HOW 
THET   SUCCEEDED 


HOW 
THET  SUCCEEDED 


LIFE    STORIES   of  SUCCESSFUL 
MEN     TOLD     by    THEMSELVES 

By     ORISON     SWETT     MARDEN 

EDITOR     of    "  SUCCESS."  AUTHOR     of    "  WINNING 

OUT,"     ETC.,     ETC.  + 


ILLUSTRATED 


LOTHROP    PUBLISHING     COMPANY 
BOSTON  * 


COPYRIGHT, 
1901,  BY 

L  O  T  H  R  O  P 
PUBLISHING 
COMPANY. 

ALL  RIGHTS 
RESERVED 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

MARSHALL  FIELD 19 

"  Determined  not  to  remain  poor  " 20 

"  Saved  my  Earnings,  and  Attended  strictly  to 

Business "   20 

"  I  always  thought  I  would  be  a  Merchant " . . . .  21 

An  Opportunity   21 

A  Cash  basis 23 

"  Every  Purchaser  must  be  enabled  to  feel  se- 
cure " 24 

The  Turning  Point 25 

Qualities  that  make  for  Success 27 

A  College  Education  and  Business 27 

CHAPTER  II 

BELL  TELEPHONE  TALK 30 

HINTS  ON  SUCCESS  BY  ALEXANDER  G.  BELL. 

A  Night  Worker 30 

The  Subject  of  Success 31 

Perseverance  applied  to  a  Practical  End 32 

Concentration  of  Purpose 34 

Young  American  Geese 36 

5 


M553380 


Contents 

BELL  TELEPHONE  TALK— (Continued):          PAGE 

Unhelpful  Reading 36 

Inventions  in  America 37 

The  Orient 38 

Environment  and  Heredity 38 

Professor  Bell's  Life  Story 40 

"I  will  make  the  World  Hear  it" 41 

CHAPTER  III 

WHY     THE     AMERICAN     PEOPLE     LIKE 

HELEN  GOULD  44 

A  Face  Full  of  Character 45 

Her  Ambitions  and  Aims 45 

A  Most  Charming  Charity 46 

Her  Practical  Sympathy  for  the  Less  Favored. .  49 

Personal  Attention  to  an  Unselfish  Service 52 

Her  Views  upon   Education 55 

The   Evil   of   Idleness 56 

Her  Patriotism 56 

"  Our   Helen  "    59 

"America"    60 

Unheralded  Benefactions 60 

Her   Personality 63 

CHAPTER  IV 

PHILIP  D.  ARMOUR'S  BUSINESS  CAREER..  65     9^ { 

Footing  it  to  California 68 

The  Ditch 70 

He  enters  the  Grain  Market 71 

Mr.  Armour's  Acute  Perception  of  the  Commer- 
cial  Conditions   for   Building  up   a   Great 

Business    72 

6 


Contents 

PHILIP  D.  ARMOUR'S  BUSINESS  CAREER— 

(Continued):  PAGE 

System  and  Good  Measure 73 

Methods 74 

The  Turning  Point 75 

Truth   75 

A  Great  Orator  and  a  Great  Chanty 75 

Ease  in  His  Work 77 

A   Business    King 78 

Training  Youth  for  Business 79 

Prompt  to  Act 82 

Foresight   83 

Forearmed  against   Panic 84 

Some  Secrets  of  Success 85 

CHAPTER  V 

WHAT  MISS  MARY  E.  PROCTOR  DID  TO 

POPULARIZE  ASTRONOMY 87 

Audiences  are  Appreciative 88 

Lectures  to  Children 89 

A  Lesson  in  Lecturing 90 

The   Stereopticon 91 

"  Stories  from  Starland  " 93 

Concentration  of  Attention 94 

CHAPTER  VI 

THE  BOYHOOD  EXPERIENCE  OF  PRESI- 
DENT SCHURMAN  OF  CORNELL  UNI- 
VERSITY    96 

A  Long  Tramp  to  School 98 

He  Always  Supported  Himself 100 

The  Turning  Point  of  his  Life 101 

A  Splendid  College  Record 103 

7 


Contents 

CHAPTER  VII 

PAGE 

THE  STORY  OF  JOHN  WANAMAKER 105 

His  Capital  at  Fourteen 106 

Tower  Hall  Clothing  Store 107 

His  Ambition  and  Power  as  an  Organizer  at 

Sixteen  108 

The  Y.  M.  C  A 109 

Oak  Hall 109 

A  Head  Built  for  Business no 

His  Relation  to  Customers in 

The  Merchant's  Organizing  Faculty 113 

Attention  to  Details 115 

The  Most  Rigid  Economy 115 

Advertising 116 

Seizing  Opportunities 117 

Push  and  Persistence 117 

Balloons  119 

"To  what,  Mr.  Wanamaker,  do  you  Attribute 

your  Great  Success?" 120 

His  Views  on  Business 121 

Public  Service 124 

Invest  in  Yourself 124 

At  Home 126 

CHAPTER  VIII 

GIVING  UP  FIVE  THOUSAND  A  YEAR  TO 

BECOME  A  SCULPTOR 129 

CHAPTER  IX 
QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS 139 

BUSINESS  POINTERS  BY  DARIUS  OGDEN   MILLS. 

Work  139 

8 


Contents 

QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS— (Continued):     PAGE 

Self-Dependence   140 

Thrift    141 

Expensive  Habits — Smoking 141 

Forming  an  Independent  Business  Judgment...  142 
The  Multiplication  of  Opportunities  To-day  in 

America 142 

Where  is  One's  Best  Chance?    The  Knowledge 

of    Men 143 

The  Bottom  of  the  Ladder 144 

The  Beneficent  Use  of  Capital 145 

Wholesome  Discipline  of  Earning  and  Spending.  146 
Personal :   A  Word  about  Cheap  Hotels 146 

CHAPTER  X 

NORDICA:  WHAT  IT  COSTS  TO  BECOME  A 

QUEEN  OF  SONG 149 

The  Difficulties 150 

"  The  World  was  Mine,  if  I  would  Work" 152 

"  It  put  New  Fire  into  me  " 154 

"  I  was  Traveling  on  Air  " 156 

In  Europe 159 

"Why  don't  you  Sing  in  Grand  Opera?" 161 

This  was  her  Crowning  Triumph 162 

She  was  Indispensable  in  "Aida" 166 

The  Kindness  of  Frau  Wagner 167 

Musical  Talent  of  American  Girls 169 

The  Price  of  Fame 170 

CHAPTER  XI 

HOW  HE  WORKED  TO  SECURE  A  FOOT- 
HOLD    171 

9 


Contents 

HOW  HE  WORKED  TO  SECURE  A  FOOT- 
HOLD— (Continued) :  PAGE 

WILLIAM   DEAN    HOWELLS. 

A  Lofty  Ideal 172 

Acquiring  a  Literary   Style 174 

My  Workshop 175 

How  to  Choose  Between  Words 177 

The  Fate  following  Collaboration 179 

Consul  at  Venice 180 

My  Literary  Experience 182 

As  to  a  Happy  Life 184 

CHAPTER  XII 

JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 185 

His  Early  Dream  and  Purpose 186 

School   Days 188 

A  Raft  of  Hoop  Poles 191 

The  Odor  of  Oil 192 

His  First  Ledger  and  the  Items  in  it 193 

$10,000   196 

He  Remembered  the  Oil 197 

Keeping  his  Head 197 

There  was  Money  in  a  Refinery 198 

Standard  Oil 200 

Mr.    Rockefeller's   Personality 201 

At  the  Office 202 

Foresight    203 

Hygiene  204 

At  Home 205 

Philanthropy  206 

Perseverance    207 

A  Genius  for  Money-Making 207 

10 


Contents 

CHAPTER  XIII 

PAGE 

THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  BATTLE  HYMN  OF 

THE  REPUBLIC 209 

HER  VIEWS  OF  EDUCATION  FOR  YOUNG  WOMEN. 

"Little  Miss  Ward" 211 

She  was  Married  to  a  Reformer 212 

Story  of  the  "  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic". . .  214 

"Eighty  Years  Young" 215 

The  Ideal  College 217 

CHAPTER  XIV 
A  TALK  WITH  EDISON 220     ' 

DRAMATIC  INCIDENTS  IN   HIS  EARLY  LIFE. 

The  Library 221 

A  Chemical  Newsboy 223 

Telegraphy 225 

His  Use  of  Money 227 

Inventions    228 

His  Arrival  at  the  Metropolis 233 

Mental   Concentration 232 

Twenty  Hours  a  Day 231 

A  Run  for  Breakfast 234 

Not  by  accident  and  Not  for  Fun 235 

"Hike  it— I  hate  it" 236 

Doing  One  Thing  Eighteen  Hours  is  the  Secret.  237 

Possibilities  in  the  Electrical  Field 238 

Only  Six  Hundred  Inventions 238 

His  Courtship  and  his  Home 239 

CHAPTER  XV 

A  FASCINATING  STORY 241 

II 


Contents 

A  FASCINATING  STORY— (Continued) :  PAGE 

BY  GENERAL  LEW   WALLACE. 

A  Boyhood  of  Wasted  Opportunities 242 

His  Boyhood  Love  for  History  and  Literature..  444 

A  Father's  Fruitful  Warning 245 

A  Manhood  of  Splendid  Effort 246 

"  The  Regularity  of  the  Work  was  a  Splendid 

Drill  for  me  " 247 

Self-Education  by  Reading  and  Literary  Com- 
position      247 

"The  Fair  God" 249 

The  Origin  of  "  Ben  Hur  " 250 

Influence  of  the  Story  of  the  Christ  upon  the 
Author  251 

CHAPTER  XVI 

CARNEGIE  AS  A  METAL  WORKER 253 

Early  Work  and  Wages 254 

Colonel  Anderson's  Books ,. ...  255 

His  First  Glimpse  of  Paradise 256 

Introduced  to  a  Broom 258 

An  Expert  Telegrapher 259 

What  Employers  Think  of  Young  Men 261 

The  Right  Men  in  Demand 262 

How  to  Attract  Attention 263 

Sleeping  Car  Invention 264 

The  Work  of  a  Millionaire 266 

An  Oil   Farm 267 

Iron  Bridges 268 

Homestead  Steel  Works 269 

A  Strengthening  Policy 270 

Philanthropy  271 

"The  Misfortune  of  Being  Rich  Men's  Sons"..  273 

12 


'  Contents 

CHAPTER  XVII 

PAGE 

JOHN     B.     HERRESHOFF,     THE     YACHT 

BUILDER   276 

PART  I. 

"Let  the  Work  Show." 278 

The  Voyage  of  Life 279 

A  Mother's  Mighty  Influence 280 

Self   Help 281 

Education 282 

Apprentices   283 

Prepare  to  Your  Utmost:   then  Do  Your  Best..  284 

Present  Opportunities 284 

Natural   Executive  Ability 285 

The  Development  of  Power 286 

"  My   Mother  " 287 

A  Boat  Builder  in  Youth 288 

He  Would  Not  be  Discouraged 288 

The  Sum  of  it  All 289 

PART  II. 

What  the  Herreshoff  Brothers  have  been  Doing. 

Racing  Jay  Gould 291 

The   "  Stiletto  " 293 

The  Blind  Brother 296 

Personality  of,  John  B.  Herreshoff 297 

Has  he  a  Sixth  Sense  ? 299 

Seeing  with  His  Fingers 300 

Brother  Nat 301 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

A  SUCCESSFUL  NOVELIST:    FAME  AFTER 

FIFTY  304 


Contents 

A  SUCCESSFUL  NOVELIST:    FAME  AFTER 

FIFTY— (Continued) :  PAGE 

PRACTICAL    HINTS    TO    YOUNG   AUTHORS,    BY    AMELIA 
E.  BARR. 

Value  of  Biblical  and  Imaginative  Literature...  305 

Renunciation    306 

Delightful    Studies    307 

Fifteen  Hours  a  Day 308 

An  Accident   309 

Vocation 310 

Words  of  Counsel 310 

CHAPTER  XIX 

HOW  THEODORE  THOMAS  BROUGHT  THE 

PEOPLE  NEARER  TO  MUSIC 314        V 

"  I  was  Not  an  Infant  Prodigy  " 315 

Beginning  of  the  Orchestra 316 

Music  had  No  Hold  on  the  Masses 320 

Working  Out  His  Idea 323 

The  Chief  Element  of  his  Success 326 


CHAPTER  XX 

JOHN  BURROUGHS  AT  HOME:    THE  HUT 

ON  THE  HILL  TOP 327 

CHAPTER  XXI 
VREELAND'S  ROMANTIC  STORY 341 

HOW   HE  CAME  TO  TRANSPORT   A   MILLION   PASSEN- 
GERS A  DAY. 


Contents 
CHAPTER  XXII 

PAGE 

HOW  JAMES  WHITCOMB  RILEY  CAME  TO 
BE  MASTER  OF  THE  HOOSIER  DIA- 
LECT   357 

Thrown  on  His  Own  Resources 357 

Why  he  Longed  to  be  a  Baker 359 

Persistence   361 

Twenty  Years  of  Rejected  Manuscripts 362 

A  College  Education 364 

Riley's  Popularity 365 


INTRODUCTORY     NOTE 


THE  GREAT  INTEREST  manifested  in  the  life- 
stories  of  successful  men  and  women,  which  have  been 
published  from  time  to  time  in  the  magazine  SUCCESS,  has 
actuated  their  production  in  book  form.  Many  of  these 
sketches  have  been  revised  and  rewritten,  and  new  ones 
have  been  added.  They  all  contain  the  elements  that 
make  men  and  women  successful  ;  and  they  are  intended 
to  show  that  character,  energy,  and  an  indomitable  am- 
bition will  succeed  in  the  world,  and  that  in  this  land, 
where  all  men  are  born  equal  and  have  an  equal  chance 
in  life,  there  is  no  reason  for  despair.  I  believe  that  the 
ideal  book  for  youth  should  deal  with  concrete  examples  ; 
for  that  which  is  taken  from  real  life  is  far  more  effective 
than  that  which  is  culled  from  fancy.  Character-building, 
its  uplifting,  energizing  force,  has  been  made  the  basic 
principle  of  this  work. 

To  all  who  have  aided  me  I  express  a  grateful  ac- 
knowledgment ;  and  to  none  more  than  to  those  whose  life- 
stories  are  here  related  as  a  lesson  to  young  people.  Among 
those  who  have  given  me  special  assistance  in  securing  those 
life-stories  are,  Mr.  Harry  Steele  Morrison,  Mr.  J.  Herbert 
Welch,  Mr.  Charles  H.  Garrett,  Mr.  Henry  Irving  Dodge, 
and  Mr.  Jesse  W.  Weik.  I  am  confident  that  the  remark- 
able exhibit  of  successful  careers  made  in  this  book  — 
careers  based  on  sound  business  principles  and  honesty 
—  will  meet  with  appreciation  on  the  part  of  the  reading 
public.  ORISON  SWETT  MARDEN. 


I  flff§ 

MARSHALL  FIELD     || 

THIS  world-renowned  merchant  is  not 
easily  accessible  to  interviews,  and  he 
seeks  no  fame  for  his  business  achieve- 
ments. Yet,  there  is  no  story  more  significant, 
none  more  full  of  encouragement  and  inspira- 
tion for  youth. 

In  relating  it,  as  he  told  it,  I  have  removed 
my  own  interrogations,  so  far  as  possible,  from 
the  interview. 

"  I  was  born  in  Conway,  Massachusetts,"  he 
said,  "  in  1835.  My  father's  farm  was  among 
the  rocks  and  hills  of  that  section,  and  not  very 
fertile.  All  the  people  were  poor  in  those  days. 
My  father  was  a  man  who  had  good  judgment, 
and  he  made  a  success  out  of  the  farming  busi- 
ness. My  mother  was  of  a  more  intellectual 
bent.  Both  my  parents  were  anxious  that  their 
boys  should  amount  to  something  in  life,  and 
their  interest  and  care  helped  me. 


How  They  Succeeded 

"  I  had  but  few  books,  scarcely  any  to  speak 
of.  There  was  not  much  time  for  literature. 
Such  books  as  we  had,  I  made  use  of. 

"  I  had  a  leaning  toward  business,  and  took 
up  with  it  as  early  as  possible.  I  was  naturally 
of  a  saving  disposition:  I  had  to  be.  Those 
were  saving  times.  A  dollar  looked  very  big 
to  us  boys  in  those  days;  and  as  we  had  diffi- 
cult labor  in  earning  it,  we  did  not  quickly 
spend  it.  I  however, 


"  Did  you  attend  both  school  and  college  ?  " 
"  I  attended  the  common  and  high  schools 
at  home,  but  not  long.  I  had  no  college  train- 
ing. Indeed,  I  cannot  say  that  I  had  much  of 
any  public  school  education.  I  left  home  when 
seventeen  years  of  age,  and  of  course  had  not 
time  to  study  closely. 

"  My  first  venture  in  trade  was  made  as 
clerk  in  a  country  store  at  Pittsfield,  Massachu- 
setts, where  everything  was  sold,  including  dry- 
goods.  There  I  remained  for  four  years,  and 
picked  up  my  first  knowledge  of  business.  I 

SAVED  MY  EARNINGS  AND  ATTENDED  STRICTLY 
TO  BUSINESS, 

and  so  made  those  four  years  valuable  to  me. 

20 


Marshall  Field 

Before  I  went  West,  my  employer  offered  me 
a  quarter  interest  in  his  business  if  I  would  re- 
main with  him.  Even  after  I  had  been  here 
several  years,  he  wrote  and  offered  me  a  third 
interest  if  I  would  go  back. 

"  But  I  was  already  too  well  placed.  I  was 
always  interested  in  the  commercial  side  of  life. 
To  this  I  bent  my  energies;  and 

I  ALWAYS  THOUGHT  I  WOULD  BE  A  MERCHANT. 

"  In  Chicago,  I  entered  as  a  clerk  in  the  dry- 
goods  house  of  Cooley,  Woodsworth  &  Co.,  in 
South  Water  street.  There  was  no  guarantee 
at  that  time  that  this  place  would  ever  become 
the  western  metropolis ;  the  town  had  plenty  of 
ambition  and  pluck,  but  the  possibilities  of 
greatness  were  hardly  visible." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  connection 
how  closely  the  story  of  Mr.  Field's  progress 
is  connected  with  Chicago's  marvelous  growth. 
The  city  itself  in  its  relations  to  the  West,  was 

AN   OPPORTUNITY. 

A  parallel,  almost  exact,  may  be  drawn  be- 
tween the  individual  career  and  the  growth  of 
the  town.  Chicago  was  organized  in  1837,  two 
years  after  Mr.  Field  was  born  on  the  far-off 
farm  in  New  England,  and  the  place  then  had 

21 


How  They  Succeeded 

a  population  of  a  little  more  than  four  thou- 
sand. In  1856,  when  Mr.  Field,  fully  equipped 
for  a  successful  mercantile  career,  became  a 
resident  of  the  future  metropolis  of  the  West, 
the  population  had  grown  to  little  more  than 
eighty-four  thousand.  Mr.  Field's  prosperity 
advanced  with  the  growth  of  the  city;  with 
Chicago  he  was  stricken  but  not  crushed  by  the 
great  fire  of  1871;  and  with  Chicago  he  ad- 
vanced again  to  higher  achievement  and  far 
greater  prosperity  than  before  the  calamity. 

"  What  were  your  equipments  for  success 
when  you  started  as  a  clerk  here  in  Chicago, 
in  1856?" 

"  Health  and  ambition,  and  what  I  believe  to 
be  sound  principles ; "  answered  Mr.  Field. 
"  And  here  I  found  tha,t  in  a  growing  town,  no 
one  had  to  wait  for  promotion.  Good  busi- 
ness qualities  were  promptly  discovered,  and 
men  were  pushed  forward  rapidly. 

"  After  four  years,  in  1860,  I  was  made  a 
partner,  and  in  1865,  there  was  a  partial  reor- 
ganization, and  the  firm  consisted  after  that  of 
Mr.  Leiter,  Mr.  Palmer  and  myself  (Field, 
Palmer,  and  Leiter).  Two  years  later  Mr. 
Palmer  withdrew,  and  until  1881,  the  style  of 
the  firm  was  Field,  Leiter  &  Co.  Mr.  Leiter 

22 


Marshal]   Field 

retired  in  that  year,  and  since  then  it  has  been 
as  at  present  (Marshall  Field  &  Co.)." 

"  What  contributed  most  to  the  great  growth 
of  your  business  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  To  answer  that  question,"  said  Mr.  Field, 
"  would  be  to  review  the  condition  of  the  West 
from  the  time  Chicago  began  until  the  fire  in 
1871.  Everything  was  coming  this  way;  im- 
migration, railways  and  water  traffic,  and  Chi- 
cago was  enjoying  '  flush  '  times. 

"  There  were  things  to  learn  about  the  coun- 
try, and  the  man  who  learned  the  quickest  fared 
the  best.  For  instance,  the  comparative  newness 
of  rural  communities  and  settlements  made  a 
knowledge  of  local  solvency  impossible.  The 
old  State  banking  system  prevailed,  and  specu- 
lation of  every  kind  was  rampant. 

A  CASH  BASIS 

"The  panic  of  1857  swept  almost  every- 
thing away  except  the  house  I  worked  for,  and 
I  learned  that  the  reason  they  survived  was 
because  they  understood  the  nature  of  the  new 
country,  and  did  a  cash  business.  That  is,  they 
bought  for  cash,  and  sold  on  thirty  and  sixty 
days;  instead  of  giving  the  customers,  whose 
financial  condition  you  could  hardly  tell  any- 


How  They  Succeeded 

thing  about,  all  the  time  they  wanted.  When 
the  panic  came,  they  had  no  debts,  and  little 
owing  to  them,  and  so  they  weathered  it  all 
right.  /  learned  what  I  consider  my  best  lesson, 
and  that  was  to  do  a  cash  business. " 

"  What  were  some  of  the  principles  you  ap- 
plied to  your  business?  "  I  questioned. 

"  /  made  it  a  point  that  all  goods  should  be 
exactly  what  they  were  represented  to  be.  It 
was  a  rule  of  the  house  that  an  exact  scrutiny 
of  the  quality  of  all  goods  purchased  should 
be  maintained,  and  that  nothing  was  to  induce 
the  house  to  place  upon  the  market  any  line  of 
goods  at  a  shade  of  variation  from  their  real 
value.  Every  article  sold  must  be  regarded  as 
warranted,  and 

EVERY  PURCHASER  MUST  BE  ENABLED  TO  FEEL 
SECURE.  " 

"  Did  you  suffer  any  losses  or  reverses  dur- 
ing your  career  ?  " 

"  No  loss  except  by  the  fire  of  1871.  It 
swept  away  everything, — about  three  and  a 
half  millions.  We  were,  of  course,  protected 
by  insurance,  which  would  have  been  sufficient 
against  any  ordinary  calamity  of  the  kind.  But 
the  disaster  was  so  sweeping  that  some  of  the 

24 


Marshall  Field 

companies  which  had  insured  our  property  were 
blotted  out,  and  a  long  time  passed  before  our 
claims  against  others  were  settled.  We  man- 
aged, however,  to  start  again.  There  were  no 
buildings  of  brick  or  stone  left  standing,  but 
there  were  some  great  shells  of  horse-car  barns 
at  State  and  Twentieth  streets  which  were  not 
burned,  and  I  hired  those.  We  put  up  signs 
announcing  that  we  would  continue  business 
uninterruptedly,  and  then  rushed  the  work  of 
fitting  things  up  and  getting  in  the  stock." 

"  Did  the  panic  of  1873  affect  your  busi- 
ness?" 

"  Not  at  all.    We  did  not  have  any  debts.  " 
"  May  I  ask,  Mr.  Fidds,  what  you  consider 
to  have  been 

THE  TURNING  POINT 

in  your  career,  —  the  point  after  which  there 
was  no  more  danger  ?  " 

"  Saving  the  first  five  thousand  dollars  I  ever 
had,  when  I  might  just  as  well  have  spent 
the  moderate  salary  I  made.  Possession  of  that 
sum,  once  I  had  it,  gave  me  the  ability  to  meet 
opportunities.  That  I  consider  the  turning- 
point.  " 

"  What  trait  of  character  do  you  look  upon 

25 


How  They  Succeeded 

as  having  been  the  most  essential  in  your 
career  ?  " 

"Perseverance''  said  Mr.  Field.  But  Mr. 
Selfridge,  his  most  trusted  lieutenant,  in  whose 
private  office  we  were,  insisted  upon  the  addi- 
tion of  "  good  judgment "  to  this. 

"  If  I  am  compelled  to  lay  claim  to  such 
traits,  "  added  Mr.  Fields,  "  it  is  because  I  have 
tried  to  practise  them,  and  the  trying  has  availed 
me  much.  I  have  tried  to  make  all  my  acts 
and  commercial  moves  the  result  of  definite 
consideration  and  sound  judgment.  There  wert 
never  any  great  ventures  or  risks.  I  practised 
honest,  slow-growing  business  methods,  and 
tried  to  back  them  with  energy  and  good 
system.  " 

At  this  point,  in  answer  to  further  questions, 
Mr.  Field  disclaimed  having  overworked  in  his 
business,  although  after  the  fire  of  '71  he 
worked  about  eighteen  hours  a  day  for  several 
weeks : — 

"  My  fortune,  however,  has  not  been  made 
in  that  manner.  I  believe  in  reasonable  hours, 
but  close  attention  during  those  hours.  I  never 
worked  very  many  hours  a  day.  People  do  not 
work  as  many  hours  now  as  they  once  did. 

26 


Marshall  Field 

The   day's   labor   has   shortened   in   the   last 
twenty  years  for  everyone." 

QUALITIES  THAT  MAKE  FOR  SUCCESS 

"  What,  Mr.  Field,  "  I  said,  "  do  you  co'n- 
sider  to  be  the  first  requisite  for  success  in  life, 
so  far  as  the  young  beginner  is  concerned  ?  " 

"  The  qualities  of  honesty,  energy,  frugality, 
integrity,  are  more  necessary  than  ever  to-day, 
and  there  is  no  success  without  them.  They  are 
so  often  urged  that  they  have  become  common- 
place, but  they  are  really  more  prized  than 
ever.  And  any  good  fortune  that  comes  by 
such  methods  is  deserved  and  admirable. " 

A   COLLEGE   EDUCATION    AND   BUSINESS 

"  Do  you  believe  a  college  education  for  the 
young  man  to  be  a  necessity  in  the  future?  " 

"  Not  for  business  purposes.  Better  training 
will  become  more  and  more  a  necessity.  The 
truth  is,  with  most  young  men,  a  college  edu- 
cation means  that  just  at  the  time  when  they 
should  be  having  business  principles  instilled 
into  them,  and  be  getting  themselves  energeti- 
cally pulled  together  for  their  life's  work,  they 
are  sent  to  college.  Then  intervenes  what  many 

27 


How  They  Succeeded 

a  young  man  looks  back  on  as  the  jolliest  time 
of  his  life, — four  years  of  college.  Often 
when  he  comes  out  of  college  the  young  man  is 
unfitted  by  this  good  time  tobuckle  downtohard 
work,  and  the  result  is  a  failure  to  grasp  op- 
portunities that  would  have  opened  the  way  for 
a  successful  career." 

As  to  retiring  from  business,  Mr.  Field  re- 
marked : — 

"  I  do  not  believe  that,  when  a  man  no  longer 
attends  to  his  private  business  in  person  every 
day,  he  has  given  up  interest  in  affairs.  He 
may  be,  in  fact  should  be,  doing  wider  and 
greater  work.  There  certainly  is  no  pleasure 
in  idleness.  A  man,  upon  giving  up  business, 
does  not  cease  laboring,  but  really  does  or 
should  do  more  in  a  larger  sense.  He  should 
interest  himself  in  public  affairs.  There  is  no 
happiness  in  mere  dollars.  After  they  are  ac- 
quired, one  can  use  but  a  moderate  amount.  It 
is  given  a  man  to  eat  so  much,  to  wear  so  much, 
and  to  have  so  much  shelter,  and  more  he  can- 
not use.  When  money  has  supplied  these,  its 
mission,  so  far  as  the  individual  is  concerned, 
is  fulfilled,  and  man  must  look  further  and 
higher.  It  is  only  in  the  wider  public  affairs, 
where  money  is  a  moving  force  toward  the 

28 


Marshall  Field 

general  welfare,  that  the  possessor  of  it  can 
possibly  find  pleasure,  and  that  only  in  con- 
stantly doing  more.  " 

"  What,  "  I  said,  "  in  your  estimation,  is  the 
greatest  good  a  man  can  do  ?  " 

*  The  greatest  good  he  can  do  is  to  cultivate 
himself,  develop  his  powers,  in  order  that  he 
may  be  of  greater  use  to  humanity. " 


li  ii 

BELL  TELEPHONE    TALK 

HINTS  ON  SUCCESS  BY  ALEXANDER 
G.  BELL. 

EXTREMELY  polite,  always  anxious  to 
render  courtesy,  no  one  carries  great 
success    more    gracefully    than    Alex- 
ander G.  Bell,  the  inventor  of  the  telephone. 
His  graciousness  has  won  many  a  friend,  the 
admiration  of  many  more,  and  has  smoothed 
many  a  rugged  spot  in  life. 

A  NIGHT  WORKER 

When  I  first  went  to  see  him,  it  was  about 
eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  he  was  in 
bed!  The  second  time,  I  thought  I  would  go 
somewhat  later, — at  one  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon. He  was  eating  his  breakfast,  I  was  told ; 
and  I  had  to  wait  some  time.  He  came  in 
apologizing  profusely  for  keeping  me  waiting. 
When  I  told  him  I  had  come  to  interview  him, 

3° 


Bell  Telephone  Talk 

in  behalf  of  young  people,  about  success — its 
underlying  principles, — he  threw  back  his  large 
head  and  laughingly  said: 

*  Nothing  succeeds  like  success/  Success 
did  you  say?  Why,  that  is  a  big  subject, — 
too  big  a  one.  You  must  give  me  time  to  think 
about  it;  and  you  having  planted  the  seed  in  my 
brain,  will  have  to  wait  for  me.  " 

When  I  asked  what  time  I  should  call,  he 
said :  "  Come  any  time,  if  it  is  only  late.  I 
begin  my  work  at  about  nine  or  ten  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  and  continue  until  four  or  five  in 
the  morning.  Night  is  a  more  quiet  time  to 
work.  It  aids  thought.  " 

So,  when  I  went  to  see  him  again,  I  made  it 
a  point  to  be  late.  He  cordially  invited  me  into 
his  studio,  where,  as  we  both  sat  on  a  large 
and  comfortable  sofa,  he  talked  long  on 

THE    SUBJECT    OF    SUCCESS. 

The  value  of  this  article  would  be  greatly 
enhanced,  if  I  could  add  his  charming  manner 
of  emphasizing  what  he  says,  with  hands,  head, 
and  eyes;  and  if  I  could  add  his  beautiful  dis- 
tinctness of  speech,  due,  a  great  deal,  to  his 
having  given  instruction  to  deaf  mutes,  who 
must  read  the  lips. 

31 


i 


How  They  Succeeded 

"  What  do  you  think  are  the  factors  of  suc- 
cess? "  I  asked.  The  reply  was  prompt  and  to 
the  point. 

-  PERSEVERANCE  APPLIED  TO  A  PRACTICAL  END 

"  Perseverance  is  the  chief;  but  persever- 
ance must  have  some  practical  end,  or  it  does 
not  avail  the  man  possessing  it.  A  person 
without  a  practical  end  in  view  becomes  a 
crank  or  an  idiot.  Such  persons  fill  our  insane 
asylums.  The  same  perseverance  that  they 
show  in  some  idiotic  idea,  if  exercised  in  the 
accomplishment  of  somethingpracticable,  would 
no  doubt  bring  success.  Perseverance  is  first, 
but  practicability  is  chief.  The  success  of  the 
Americans  as  a  nation  is  due  to  their  great 
practicability.  " 

"  But  often  what  the  world  calls  nonsensical, 
becomes  practical,  does  it  not?  You  were 
called  crazy,  too,  once,  were  you  not  ?  " 

"  There  are  some  things,  though,  that  are 
always  impracticable.  Now,  take,  for  instance, 
this  idea  of  perpetual  motion.  Scientists  have 
proved  that  it  is  impossible.  Yet  our  patent 
office  is  continually  beset  by  people  applying  for 
inventions  on  some  perpetual  motion  machine. 
So  the  department  has  adopted  a  rule  whereby 

32 


Bell  Telephone  Talk 

a  working  model  is  always  required  of  such 
applicants.  They  cannot  furnish  one.  The  im- 
possible is  incapable  of  success.  " 

"  I  have  heard  of  people  dreaming  inven- 
tions. " 

"  That  is  not  at  all  impossible.  I  am  a  be- 
liever in  unconscious  cerebration.  The  brain 
is  working  all  the  time,  though  we  do  not  know 
it.  At  night,  it  follows  up  what  we  think  in 
the  daytime.  When  I  have  worked  a  long  time 
on  one  thing,  I  make  it  a  point  to  bring  all  the 
facts  regarding  it  together  before  I  retire;  and 
I  have  often  been  surprised  at  the  results.  Have 
you  not  noticed  that,  often,  what  was  dark  and 
perplexing  to  you  the  night  before,  is  found  to 
be  perfectly  solved  the  next  morning?  We  are 
thinking  all  the  time;  it  is  impossible  not  to 
think.  " 

"  Can  everyone  become  an  inventor?  " 

"  Oh,  no;  not  all  minds  are  constituted  alike. 
Some  minds  are  only  adapted  to  certain  things. 
But  as  one's  mind  grows,  and  one's  knowledge 
of  the  world's  industries  widens,  it  adapts  itself 
to  such  things  as  naturally  fall  to  it.  " 

Upon  my  asking  the  relation  of  health  to  suc- 
cess, the  professor  replied : — 

"  I  believe  it  to  be  a  primary  principle  of  sue- 

33 


How  They  Succeeded 

cess;  '  mens  sana  in  corpora  sano/— a  sound 
mind  in  a  sound  body.  The  mind  in  a  weak 
body  produces  weak  ideas ;  a  strong  body  gives 
strength  to  the  thought  of  the  mind.  Ill  health 
is  due  to  man's  artificiality  of  living.  He  lives 
indoors.  He  becomes,  as  it  were,  a  hothouse 
plant.  Such  a  plant  is  never  as  successful  as  a 
hardy  garden  plant  is.  An  outdoor  life  is  nec- 
essary to  health  and  success,  especially  in  a 
youth.  " 

"  But  is  not  hard  study  often  necessary  to 
success  ?  " 

"  No ;  decidedly  not.  You  cannot  force  ideas. 
Successful  ideas  are  the  result  of  3low  growth. 
Ideas  do  not  reach  perfection  in  a  day,  no 
matter  how  much  study  is  put  upon  them.  It  is 
perseverance  in  the  pursuit  of  studies  that  is 
really  wanted. 

CONCENTRATION  OF  PURPOSE 

"  Next  must  come  concentration  of  purpose 
and  study.  That  is  another  thing  I  mean  to 
emphasize.  Concentrate  all  your  thought  upon 
the  work  in  hand.  The  sun's  rays  do  not  burn 
until  brought  to  a  focus. 

"  I  am  now  thinking  about  flying  machines. 
Everything  in  regard  to  them,  I  pick  out  and 

34 


Bell  Telephone  Talk 

read.  When  I  see  a  bird  flying  in  the  air,  I 
note  its  manner  of  flight,  as  I  would  not  if  I 
were  not  constantly  thinking  about  artificial 
flight,  and  concentrating  all  my  thought  and 
observation  upon  it.  It  is  like  a  man  who  has 
made  the  acquaintance  of  some  new  word  that 
has  been  brought  forcibly  to  his  notice,  although 
he  may  have  come  across  it  many  times  before, 
and  not  have  noticed  it  particularly. 

"  Man  is  the  result  of  slow  growth;  that  is 
why  he  occupies  the  position  he  does  in  animal 
life.  What  does  a  pup  amount  to  that  has 
gained  its  growth  in  a  few  days  or  weeks,  beside 
a  man  who  only  attains  it  in  as  many  years.  A 
horse  is  often  a  grandfather  before  a  boy  has 
attained  his  full  maturity.  The  most  successful 
men  in  the  end  are  those  whose  success  is  the 
result  of  steady  accretion.  That  intellectuality 
is  more  vigorous  that  has  attained  its  strength 
gradually.  It  is  the  man  who  carefully  ad- 
vances step  by  step,  with  his  mind  becoming 
wider  and  wider, — and  progressively  better 
able  to  grasp  any  theme  or  situation, — per- 
severing in  what  he  knows  to  be  practical,  and  V 
concentrating  his  thought  upon  it,  who  is  bound 
to  succeed  in  the  greatest  degree. 


35 


How  They  Succeeded 

YOUNG   AMERICAN    GEESE 

"  If  a  man  is  not  bound  down,  he  is  sure  to 
succeed.  He  may  be  bound  down  by  environ- 
ment, or  by  doting  parental  petting.  In  Paris, 
they  fatten  geese  to  create  a  diseased  condition 
of  the  liver.  A  man  stands  with  a  box  of  very 
finely  prepared  and  very  rich  food  beside  a  re- 
volving stand,  and,  as  it  revolves,  one  goose 
after  another  passes  before  him.  Taking  the 
first  goose  by  the  neck,  he  clamps  down  its 
throat  a  large  lump  of  the  food,  whether  the 
goose  will  or  no,  until  its  crop  is  well  stuffed 
out,  and  then  he  proceeds  with  the  rest  in  the 
same  very  mechanical  manner.  Now,  I  think, 
if  those  geese  had  to  work  hard  for  their  own 
food,  they  would  digest  it  better,  and  be  far 
healthier  geese.  How  many  young  American 
geese  are  stuffed  in  about  the  same  manner  at 
college  and  at  home,  by  their  rich  and  fond 
parents ! " 

UNHELPFUL  READING 

"  Did  everything  you  ever  studied  help  you 
to  attain  success  ?  " 

"  On  the  contrary,  I  did  not  begin  real  study 
until  I  was  over  sixteen.  Until  that  time,  my 
principal  study  was — reading  novels."  He 

36 


Bell  Telephone  Talk 

laughed  heartily  at  my  evident  astonishment. 
"  They  did  not  help  me  in  the  least,  for  they 
did  not  give  me  an  insight  into  real  life.  It 
is  only  those  things  that  give  one  a  grasp  of 
practical  affairs  that  are  helpful.  To  read 
novels  continuously  is  like  reading  fairy  stories 
or  "  Arabian  Nights  "  tales.  It  is  a  butterfly 
existence,  so  long  as  it  lasts;  but,  some  day,  one 
is  called  to  stern  reality,  unprepared.  " 

INVENTIONS   IN   AMERICA 

"  You  have  had  experience  in  life  in  Europe 
and  in  America.  Do  you  think  the  chances  for 
success  are  the  same  in  Europe  as  in 
America  ?  " 

"  It  is  harder  to  attain  success  in  Europe. 
There  is  hardly  the  same  appreciation  of  prog- 
ress there  is  here.  Appreciation  is  an  element 
of  success.  Encouragement  is  needed.  My 
thoughts  run  mostly  toward  inventions.  In 
England,  people  are  conservative.  They  are 
well  contented  with  the  old,  and  do  not  readily 
adopt  new  ideas.  Americans  more  quickly  ap- 
preciate new  inventions.  Take  an  invention  to 
an  Englishman  or  a  Scot,  and  he  will  ask  you 
all  about  it,  and  then  say  your  invention  may 
be  all  right,  but  let  somebody  else  try  it  first. 

37 


How  They  Succeeded 

Take  the  same  invention  to  an  American,  and 
if  it  is  intelligently  explained,  he  is  generally 
quick  to  see  the  feasibility  of  it.  America  is 
an  inspiration  to  inventors.  It  is  quicker  to 
adopt  advanced  ideas  than  England  or  Europe. 
The  most  valuable  inventions  of  this  century 
have  been  made  in  America." 

THE  ORIENT 

"  Do  you  think  there  is  a  chance  for  Ameri- 
cans in  the  Orient  ?  " 

"  There  is  only  a  chance  for  capital  in  trade. 
American  labor  cannot  compete  with  Japanese 
and  Chinese.  A  Japanese  coolie,  for  the 
hardest  kind  of  work,  receives  the  equivalent  of 
six  cents  a  day;  and  the  whole  family,  father, 
mother  and  children,  work  and  contribute  to 
the  common  good.  A  foreigner  is  only  made 
use  of  until  they  have  absorbed  all  his  useful 
ideas;  then  he  is  avoided.  The  Japanese  are 
ahead  of  us  in  many  things.  " 

ENVIRONMENT  AND  HEREDITY 

"  Do  you  think  environment  and  heredity 
count  in  success  ?  " 

"  Environment,  certainly ;  heredity,  not  so 
distinctly.  In  heredity,  a  man  may  stamp  out 

38 


Bell  Telephone  Talk 

the  faults  he  has  inherited.  There  is  no  chance 
for  the  proper  working  of  heredity.  If  selec- 
tion could  be  carried  out,  a  man  might  owe 
much  to  heredity.  But  as  it  is,  only  opposites 
marry.  Blonde  and  light-complexioned  people 
marry  brunettes,  and  the  tall  marry  the  short. 
In  our  scientific  societies,  men  only  are  ad- 
mitted. If  women  who  were  interested  espe- 
cially in  any  science  were  allowed  to  affiliate 
with  the  men  in  these  societies,  we  might  hope 
to  see  some  wonderful  workings  of  the  laws  of 
heredity.  A  man,  as  a  general  rule,  owes  very 
little  to  what  he  is  born  with.  A  man  is  what 
he  makes  of  himself. 

"  Environment  counts  for  a  great  deal.     A 
man's  particular  idea  may  have  no  chance  for 
growth  or  encouragement  in  his  community. 
Real  success  is  denied  that  man,  until  he  finds  — 
a  proper  environment. 

America  is  a  good  environment  for  young 
men.  It  breathes  the  very  spirit  of  success.  I 
noticed  at  once,  when  I  first  came  to  this 
country,  how  the  people  were  all  striving  for 
success,  and  helping  others  to  attain  success.  It 
is  an  inspiration  you  cannot  help  feeling. 
AMERICA  is  THE  LAND  OF  SUCCESS/' 


39 


How  They  Succeeded 

PROFESSOR  BELI/S  LIFE  STORY 

Alexander  Graham  Bell  was  born  in  Edin- 
burgh, Scotland,  March  3,  1847.  His  father, 
Alexander  Melville  Bell,  now  in  Washington, 
D.  C,  was  a  distinguished  Scottish  educator, 
and  the  inventor  of  a  system  of  "  visible 
speech,  "  which  he  has  successfully  taught  to 
deaf-mutes.  His  grandfather,  Alexander  Bell, 
became  well  known  by  the  invention  of  a 
method  of  removing  impediments  of  speech. 

The  younger  Bell  received  his  education  at 
the  Edinburgh  High  School  and  University; 
and,  in  1867,  he  entered  the  University  of  Lon- 
don. Then,  in  his  twenty-third  year,  his  health 
failing  from  over-study,  he  came  with  his  father 
to  Canada,  as  he  expressed  it,  "  to  die.  "  Later, 
he  settled  in  the  United  States,  becoming  first  a 
teacher  of  deaf-mutes,  and  subsequently  pro- 
fessor of  vocal  physiology  in  Boston  University. 
In  1867,  he  first  began  to  study  the  problem  of 
conveying  articulate  sound  by  electric  currents; 
which  he  pursued  during  his  leisure  time. 
After  nine  long  years  of  research  and  experi- 
ment, he  completed  the  first  telephone,  early  in 
1876,  when  it  was  exhibited  at  the  Centennial 
Exposition,  and  pronounced  the  "  wonder  of 


Bell  Telephone  Talk 

wonders  in  electric  telegraphy.  "  This  was  the 
judgment  of  scientific  men  who  were  in  a  posi- 
tion to  judge,  and  not  of  the  world  at  large. 
People  regarded  it  only  as  a  novelty,  as  a  curi- 
ous scientific  toy;  and  most  business  men 
doubted  that  it  would  ever  prove  a  useful  factor 
in  the  daily  life  of  the  world,  and  the  untold 
blessing  to  mankind  it  has  since  become.  All 
this  skepticism  he  had  to  overcome.  "  A  new 
art  was  to  be  taught  to  the  world,  a  new  in- 
dustry created,  business  and  social  methods 
revolutionized." 


"  It  does  speak/'  cried  Sir  William  Thomp- 
son, with  fervid  enthusiasm;  and  Bell's  father- 
in-law  added  :  "  I  will  make  the  world  hear  it.  " 
In  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  it  is  convey- 
ing thought  in  every  civilized  tongue;  Japan 
being  the  first  country  outside  of  the  United 
States  to  adopt  it.  In  the  first  eight  years  of 
its  existence,  the  Bell  Telephone  Company  de- 
clared dividends  to  the  extent  of  $4,000,000; 
.and  the  great  sums  of  money  the  company  earns 
for  its  stockholders  is  a  subject  of  current  com- 
ment and  wonder.  Some  fierce  contests  have 
been  waged  over  the  priority  of  his  invention, 

41 


How  They  Succeeded 

but  Mr.  Bell  has  been  triumphant  in  every 
case. 

He  has  become  very  wealthy  from  his  inven- 
tion. He  has  a  beautiful  winter  residence  in 
Washington;  fitted  up  with  a  laboratory,  and 
all  sorts  of  electrical  conveniences  mostly  of  his 
own  invention.  His  summer  residence  is  at 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts. 

His  wife,  Mabel,  the  daughter  of  the  late 
Gardiner  G.  Hubbard,  is  a  deaf-mute,  of  whose 
education  he  had  charge  when  she  was  a  child. 

Mr.  Bell,  with  one  of  his  beautiful  daughters, 
recently  made  a  visit  to  Japan.  The  Order  of 
the  Rising  Star,  the  highest  order  in  the  gift 
of  the  Japanese  Emperor,  was  bestowed  upon 
him.  He  is  greatly  impressed  by  the  character 
of  the  people;  believing  them  capable  of  much 
greater  advancement. 

Mr.  Bell  is  the  inventor  of  the  photophone, 
aiming  to  transmit  speech  by  a  vibratory  beam 
of  light.  He  has  given  much  time  and  study 
to  problems  of  multiplex  telegraphy,  and  to 
efforts  to  record  speech  by  photographing  the 
vibrations  of  a  jet  of  water. 

Few  inventors  have  derived  as  much  satis- 
faction and  happiness  from  their  achievements 
as  Mr.  Bell.  In  this  respect,  his  success  has 

42 


Bell  Telephone  Talk 

been  ideal,  and  in  impressive  contrast  with  the 
experience  of  Charles  Goodyear,  the  man  who 
made  india-rubber  useful,  and  of  some  other 
well-known  inventors,  whose  services  to  man- 
kind brought  no  substantial  reward  to  them- 
selves. 

Mr.  Bell  is  in  nowise  spoiled  by  his  good  for- 
tune; but  is  the  same  unpretending  person  to- 
day, that  he  was  before  the  telephone  made  him 
wealthy  and  famous. 


43 


11      HI  ,  P:        if!      '^ 

Why  the  American  People  Like 
Helen  Gould 

MISS    HELEN    GOULD    has  won  a 
place  for  herself  in    the    hearts    of 
Americans    such    as    few    people    of 
great  wealth  ever  gain.    Her  strong  character, 
commonsense,  and  high  ideals,  have  made  her 
respected  by  all,    while    her    munificence  and 
kindness  have  won  for  her  the  love  of  many. 

Upon  my  arrival  at  her  Tarrytown  home,  I 
was  made  to  feel  that  I  was  welcome,  and  every- 
one who  enters  her  presence  feels  the  same. 
The  grand  mansion,  standing  high  on  the  hills 
overlooking  the  Hudson,  has  a  home-like  ap- 
pearance. Chickens  play  around  the  little  stone 
cottage  at  the  grand  entrance,  and  the  grounds 
are  not  unlike  those  of  any  other  country  house, 
with  trees  in  abundance,  and  beautiful  lawns. 
There  are  large  beds  of  flowers,  and  in  the 
gardens  all  the  summer  vegetables  were  grow- 
ing. 

44 


Miss  Helen  Gould 

Miss  Gould  takes  a  very  great  interest  in  her 
famous  greenhouses,  the  gardens,  the  flowers, 
and  the  chickens,  for  she  is  a  home-loving 
woman.  It  is  a  common  thing  to  see  her  in  the 
grounds,  digging  and  raking  and  planting,  like 
some  farmer's  girl.  That  is  one  reason  why  her 
neighbors  all  like  her ;  she  seems  so  unconscious 
of  her  wealth  and  station. 

A  FACE  FULL  OF  CHARACTER 

When  I  entered  Lyndhurst,  she  came  for- 
ward to  meet  me  in  the  pleasantest  way  imagin- 
able. Her  face  is  not  exactly  beautiful,  but  has 
a  great  deal  of  character  written  upon  it,  and  it 
is  very  attractive.  She  held  out  her  hand  for 
me  to  shake  in  the  good  old-fashioned  way,  and 
then  we  sat  down  in  the  wide  hall  to  talk.  Miss 
Gould  was  dressed  very  simply.  Her  gown 
was  of  dark  cloth,  close-fitting,  and  her  skirt 
hung  several  inches  above  the  ground,  for  she  is 
a  believer  in  short  skirts  for  walking.  Her  en- 
tire costume  was  very  becoming.  She  never 
over-dresses,  and  her  garments  are  neat,  and 
naturally  of  excellent  quality. 

HER  AMBITIONS  AND  AIMS 

In  the  conversation  that  followed,  I  was  per- 
mitted to  learn  much  of  her  ambitions  and 

45 


Kow  They  Succeeded 

aims.  She  is  ambitious  to  leave  an  impression 
on  the  world  by  good  deeds  well  done,  and  this 
ambition  is  gratified  to  the  utmost.  She  is 
modest  about  her  work. 

"  I  cannot  find  that  I  am  doing  much  at  all,  " 
she  said,  "  when  there  is  so  very  much  to  be 
done.  I  suppose  I  shouldn't  expect  to  be  able 
to  do  everything,  but  I  sometimes  feel  that  I 
want  to,  nevertheless.  " 

A  MOST  CHARMING  CHARITY 

One  of  her  most  charming  charities  is 
"  Woody  Crest,  "  two  miles  from  Lyndhurst, 
a  haven  of  delight  where  some  twoscore  waifs 
are  received  at  a  time  for  a  two  weeks'  visit. 

Years  before  Miss  Gould's  name  became  as- 
sociated throughout  the  country  with  charity, 
she  was  doing  her  part  in  trying  to  make  a 
world  happier.  Every  summer  she  was  hostess 
to  scores  of  poor  children,  who  were  guests  at 
one  of  the  two  Gould  summer  homes;  little 
people  with  pinched,  wan  faces,  and  crippled 
children  from  the  tenements,  were  taken  to  that 
home  and  entertained.  They  came  in  relays,  a 
new  company  arriving  once  in  two  weeks,  the 
number  of  children  thus  given  a  taste  of  heaven 
on  earth  being  limited  only  by  the  capacity  of 

46 


Miss  Helen  Gould 

the  Gould  residence.  This  was  her  first,  and,  I 
am  told,  her  favorite  charity. 

Little  children  do  things  naturally.  It  was 
when  a  child  that  Helen  Gould  commenced  the 
work  that  has  given  her  name  a  sacred  signifi- 
cance. When  a  little  girl,  she  could  see  the  less 
fortunate  little  girls  passing  the  great  Gould 
home  on  Fifth  avenue,  and  she  pitied  them  and 
loved  them,  and  from  her  own  allowance  ad- 
ministered to  their  comfort. 

"  My  father  always  encouraged  me  in  chari- 
table work/'  she  writes  a  friend.  How  much 
the  American  people  owe  to  that  encourage- 
ment. A  frown  from  that  father,  idolized  as 
he  was  by  his  daughter,  would  have  frosted  and 
killed  that  budding  philanthropy  which  has  made 
a  great  fortune  a  fountain  of  joy,  and  carried 
sunshine  into  many  lives. 

"  Woody  Crest  "  is  a  sylvan  paradise,  a  nobly 
wooded  hill  towering  above  the  sumptuous 
green  of  Westchester,  a  place  with  wild  flowers 
and  winding  drives,  and  at  its  crest  a  solid 
mansion  built  of  the  native  rock.  One  can  look 
out  from  its  luxuriant  lawns  to  the  majestic 
Hudson,  or  turn  aside  into  the  shadiest  of  nooks 
among  the  trees.  What  a  place  for  the  restful 
breezes  to  fan  the  tired  brows  from  the  tene- 

47 


How  They  Succeeded 

ments.  Do  the  little  folks  enjoy  it  ?  Ask  them, 
and  their  eyes  will  sparkle  with  gladness  for 
answer.  Ask  those,  too,  who  are  awaiting  their 
turn  in  hot  New  York,  and  watch  the  eagerness 
of  their  anticipation.  For  two  long  and  happy 
weeks  they  become  as  joyous  as  mortals  are  ever 
permitted  to  be. 

Miss  Gould  has  a  personal  oversight  of  the 
place,  and,  by  her  frequent  visits,  makes  friends 
with  the  wee  visitors,  who  look  upon  her  as  a 
combination  of  angel  and  fairy  godmother. 
Every  day,  a  wagonette  drawn  by  two  horses 
takes  the  children,  in  relays,  for  long  drives  into 
the  country.  Amusements  are  provided,  and 
some  of  those  who  remain  for  an  entire  season 
at  Woody  Crest  are  instructed  in  different 
branches.  Twice  a  month  some  of  the  older 
boys  set  the  type  for  a  little  magazine  which  is 
devoted  to  Woody  Crest  matters.  There  are 
several  portable  cottages  erected  there,  one  for 
the  sick,  one  for  servants'  sleeping  rooms,  and 
a  third  for  a  laundry. 

And  the  munificent  hostess  of  these  children 
of  the  needy  gets  her  reward  in  eyes  made 
bright,  in  cheeks  made  ruddy,  in  the  "  God 
bless  you,  "  that  falls  from  the  lips  of  grateful 
parents. 

48 


Miss  Helen  Gould 

All  winter  long,  instead  of  closing  "  Woody 
Crest "  and  waiting  for  the  summer  sunshine 
to  bring  about  a  return  of  her  charitable  op- 
portunities, Miss  Gould  has  kept  the  place  run- 
ning at  full  expense.  During  the  winter  she 
herself  occupies  her  town  residence.  Ordi- 
narily she  would  not  keep  "  Woody  Crest " 
open  longer  than  Thanksgiving  Day,  but  in  the 
past  winter  fifteen  small  boys  were  entertained 
for  six  months.  Six  of  these  were  cripples,  and 
nine  were  sound  of  limb.  Though  it  required 
many  servants,  I  am  told  that  the  little  guests 
were  given  as  much  consideration  as  the  same 
number  of  grown  people  would  have  received. 
They  had  nurses  and  physicians  for  those  who 
needed  them,  governesses  and  instructors  for 
those  who  were  well. 

HER     PRACTICAL     SYMPATHY     FOR     THE     LESS 
FAVORED 

When,  one  day,  I  was  privileged  to  meet  Miss 
Gould  at  Woody  Crest,  I  saw  a  hundred  chil- 
dren scattered  around  the  lawn  in  front  of  the 
stately  mansion.  It  had  been  an  afternoon  of 
labor  and  anxiety  on  her  part,  for  she  felt  the 
responsibility  of  entertaining  and  caring  for  so 
many  little  ones.  As  she  finally  cooled  herself 

49 


How  They  Succeeded 

on  the  piazza  and  looked  at  her  little  charges 
romping  around  on  the  lawn,  I  asked  her  if  she 
thought  any  of  the  little  ones  before  her  would 
ever  make  their  mark  in  the  world. 

"  That's  hard  to  say,  "  she  replied,  after  a 
moment's  hesitation,  "  but  no  one  can  tell  what 
may  be  in  children  until  they  have  grown  up 
and  developed.  But  the  hardest  thing  to  me 
is  to  see  genius  struggling  under  obstacles  and 
in  surroundings  that  would  discourage  almost 
anybody.  I  do  not  see,  for  my  part,  how  any 
child  from  the  poorest  tenements  could  ever 
grow  up  and  develop  into  strong,  successful 
men  or  women.  Many  of  them,  of  course,  have 
no  gifts  or  endowments  to  do  this,  but  even  if 
they  had,  the  surroundings  are  enough  to  stifle 
every  spark  of  ambition  in  them.  It  is  a 
mystery  to  me  how  they  can  preserve  such 
bright  and  eager  faces.  What  would  we  do 
if  we  were  brought  up  in  such  environments! 
I  know  I  should  never  be  able  to  survive  it,  and 
would  never  succeed  in  rising  above  my  sur- 
roundings. And  it  is  harder  on  the  girls  than 
the  boys !  The  boys  can  go  forth  into  the  world 
and  probably  secure  a  position  which  in  time 
will  bring  them  different  companionship  and 
surroundings;  but  the  poor  girls  have  so  few 

5° 


Miss  Helen  Gould 

opportunities.  They  must  drudge  and  drag 
along  for  the  bare  necessities  of  life.  My  heart 
aches  sometimes  for  them,  and  I  wish  I  had  the 
power  to  lighten  the  burdens  of  everyone.  " 

"  The  hardest  thing,  I  suppose,  is  to  see  real 
ability  righting  against  odds,  with  no  one  to 
help  and  encourage  ?  " 

"  Yes,  that  seems  the  worst,  and  I  think  we 
all  ought  to  make  it  possible  for  such  ones  to 
get  a  little  encouragement  and  help.  When  a 
boy  is  deserving  of  credit  it  should  be  given 
unstintedly.  It  goes  a  long  way  toward  making 
him  more  hopeful  for  the  future.  We  don't 
as  a  rule  receive  enough  encouragement  in  this 
world.  Certainly  not  the  poor.  Everybody 
seems  so  busy  and  intent  upon  making  his  own 
way  in  the  world  that  he  forgets  to  drop  a  word 
of  cheer  for  those  who  have  not  been  so  fortu- 
nate by  birth  or  surroundings."  1 

For  a  number  of  years,  Miss  Gould  has  sup- 
ported certain  beds  in  the  Babies'  Shelter,  in 
connection  with  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Com- 
munion, New  York,  and  the  Wayside  Day 
Nursery,  near  Bellevue  Hospital,  has  always 

1  NOTE. — For  four  paragraphs  preceding  I  am  in- 
debted to  GEORGE  ETHELBERT  WALSH,  whose  interview 
was  published  in  the  Boston  Transcript,  Oct.  12,  1900. 

51 


How  They  Succeeded 

found  in  her  a  good  friend.  Once  a  year  she 
makes  a  tour  through  the  day  nurseries  of  New 
York,  noting  the  special  needs  of  each,  and 
often  sending  money  or  materials  for  meeting 
those  needs. 

PERSONAL      ATTENTION      TO      AN      UNSELFISH 
SERVICE 

Her  charities,  says  Mr.  Walsh,  in  the  article 
above  cited,  are  probably  the  most  practical  on 
record.  She  does  not  go  "  slumming,  "  as  so 
many  fashionable  girls  do,  but  she  does  go  and 
investigate  personal  charities  herself  and  apply 
the  medicine  as  she  thinks  best.  She  puts  her- 
self out  in  more  ways  to  relieve  distress  around 
than  she  would  to  accommodate  her  wealthiest 
friend.  Not  only  has  she  always  pitied  the  suf- 
ferers in  the  world  less  fortunate  than  herself, 
but  she  has  always  had  a  great  desire  to  help 
those  struggling  for  a  living  in  practical  ways 
to  get  along.  It  is  this  side  of  her  noble  work 
that  stands  out  most  conspicuously  to-day.  The 
public  realizes  for  the  first  time  that  this  young 
woman,  who  first  came  into  actual  fame  at  the 
time  of  our  war  with  Spain,  has  been  support- 
ing and  encouraging  young  people  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  for  years  past.  These  pro- 

52 


Miss  Helen  Gould 

teges  are  all  worthy  of  her  patronage,  and  they 
have  been  sought  out  by  her.  Not  one  has  ever 
approached  Miss  Gould  for  help,  and  in  fact 
such  an  introduction  would  undoubtedly  operate 
against  her  inclination  to  help  them.  She  has 
discovered  them;  and  then  through  considerable 
tact  and  discretion  obtained  from  them  their 
ambitious  desires  and  hopes.  Through  equally 
good  tact  and  sense  she  has  then  placed  them  in 
positions  where  they  could  work  out  their  own 
destinies  without  feeling  that  they  were  accept- 
ing charity.  This  is  distinctly  what  Miss  Gould 
wishes  to  avoid  in  helping  her  little  proteges. 
She  does  not  offer  them  charity  or  do  anything 
to  make  them  dependent  upon  her  if  it  can  be 
helped.  By  her  money  and  influence  she  ob- 
tains for  them  positions  which  will  give  them 
every  chance  in  the  world  to  rise  and  develop 
talents  which  she  thinks  she  has  discovered  in 
them. 

Some  of  her  proteges,  continues  Mr.  Walsh, 
have  been  sent  away  to  schools  and  colleges. 
One  of  the  easiest  ways  to  accomplish  this  is  to 
offer  a  scholarship  in  some  institution  and  then 
place  her  young  protege  in  such  a  position  that 
he  or  she  can  win  it,  and  in  this  way  have  four 
years  of  tuition  free.  Fully  a  dozen  different 

53 


How  They  Succeeded 

scholars  are  now  enjoying  the  benefits  of  Miss 
Gould's  kindness  in  this  and  other  respects. 
Four  others  have  been  enabled  to  attend  art 
schools,  and  two  are  studying  music  under  the 
best  teachers  through  the  instrumentality  of 
this  young  woman.  Two  of  these  scholars  were 
literally  rescued  from  the  tenement  dregs  of 
New  York,  and  they  showed  such  aptitude  for 
study  and  work  that  Miss  Gould  undertook  to 
give  them  a  fair  start  in  the  world.  Unusual 
aptitude,  brightness,  or  kindness  on  the  part  of 
children  always  attract  Miss  Gould,  and  she  has 
become  the  patron  saint  of  more  than  a  hun- 
dred. When  her  name  is  mentioned  they  show 
their  interest  and  concern,  not  by  looks  of  awe 
and  fear  but  of  eagerness  and  happiness.  Those 
of  their  number  who  have  been  lifted  from  their 
low  estate  and  put  in  high  positions  to  carve  out 
a  life  of  success  through  their  common  patron 
saint,  bring  back  stories  of  her  kindness  and 
consideration  that  make  the  children  look  upon 
her  as  they  would  the  Madonna.  But  she  is  a 
youthful  Madonna,  and  the  very  idea  of  posing 
as  such,  even  before  the  poor  and  ignorant  of 
her  little  friends,  would  amuse  her.  Neverthe- 
less, that  is  the  nearest  that  one  can  inter- 
pret their  ideas  concerning  her. 

54 


Miss  Helen  Gould 

Miss  Gould's  beneficiaries  have  been  some- 
times aided  in  obtaining  the  most  advanced 
schooling  in  the  land;  and  she  visits  with  equal 
interest  the  industrial  classes  of  Berea  and  the 
favored  students  of  the  College  Beautiful. 

HER  VIEWS  UPON  EDUCATION 

Miss  Gould  is  well  educated,  and  a  graduate 
of  a  law  school.  I  tried  to  ascertain  her  views 
regarding  the  education  of  young  women  of  to- 
day, and  what  careers  they  should  follow.  This 
is  one  of  her  particular  hobbies,  and  many  are 
the  young  girls  she  has  helped  to  attain  to  a 
better  and  more  satisfactory  life. 

"  I  believe  most  earnestly  in  education  for 
women,"  she  said ;  "  not  necessarily  the  higher 
education  about  which  we  hear  so  much,  but  a 
good,  common-school  education.  As  the  years 
pass,  girls  are  obliged  to  make  their  own  way  in 
the  world  more  and  more;  and  to  do  so,  they 
must  have  good  schooling." 

"  And  what  particular  career  do  you  think 
most  desirable  for  young  women  ?  " 

"  Oh,  as  to  careers,  there  are  many  that 
young  women  follow,  nowadays.  I  think,  if  I 
had  my  own  way  to  make,  I  should  fit  myself 
to  be  a  private  secretary.  That  is  a  position 

55 


How  They  Succeeded 

which  attracts  nearly  every  young  woman;  but, 
to  fill  it,  she  must  study  hard  and  learn,  and 
then  work  hard  to  keep  the  place.  Then  there 
are  openings  for  young  women  in  the  fields  of 
legitimate  business.  Women  know  as  much 
about  money  affairs  as  men,  only  most  of  them 
have  not  had  much  experience.  In  that  field, 
there  are  hundreds  of  things  that  a  woman  can 
do. 

THE  EVIL  OF  IDLENESS 

"  But  I  don't  think  it  matters  much  what  a 
girl  does  so  long  as  she  is  active,  and  doesn't 
allow  herself  to  stagnate.  There's  nothing,  to 
my  mind,  so  pathetic  as  a  girl  who  thinks  she 
can't  do  anything,  and  is  of  no  use  to  the 
world.  " 

HER  PATRIOTISM 

The  late  Admiral  Philip,  he  of  the  "  Texas  " 
in  the  Santiago  fight,  regarded  Miss  Gould  as  an 
angel,  and  the  sailors  of  the  Brooklyn  navy  yard 
fairly  worship  her.  A  hustling  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
chap,  Frank  Smith  by  name,  started  a  little 
club-house  for  "  Jack  Ashore,  "  near  the  Brook- 
lyn navy  yard.  Miss  Gould  heard  of  this  club, 
and  visited  it.  At  a  glance  she  grasped  the 
meaning,  and,  on  her  return  home  she  wrote  a 

56 


Miss  Helen  Gould 

letter  and  a  check  for  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and 
there  sprang  from  that  letter  and  check,  a  hand-- 
some building  in  which  there  are  sixty  beds,  a 
library,  a  pipe  organ,  a  smoking-room,  and  a 
restaurant.  Do  you  wonder  that  the  "  Jackies  " 
adore  her,  and  that  the  gale  that  sweeps  over 
the  ship  out  in  the  open  sea  is  often  freighted 
with  the  melody  of  her  name? 

"  When  I  visited  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,"  says 
Congressman  Charles  B.  Landis,  of  Indiana, 
—  to  whom  I  am  greatly  indebted  in  preparing 
this  article, — "  I  talked  with  officers  and  pri- 
vates everywhere  along  the  journey,  visited 
camps  and  hospitals  in  cities  and  isolated  towns, 
and  everywhere  it  seemed  that  the  sickness  and 
suffering  and  heart  yearning  of  the  American 
soldier  had  been  anticipated  by  Helen  Gould. 
Voices  that  quivered  and  eyes  that  moistened  at 
the  mention  of  the  name  of  this  young  American 
girl  were  one  continuous  tribute  to  her  heart 
and  work.  She  cannot  fully-  realize  how  far- 
reaching  have  been  her  efforts." 

A  business  man  looks  for  results.  What  im- 
pressed me  most  with  Miss  Gould's  work  was 
the  visible,  tangible  results.  Every  dollar  spent 
by  her  seemed  to  go,  straight  as  a  cannon-ball, 
to  some  mark.  Miss  Gould  has  a  business  head, 

57 


How  They  Succeeded 

and  is  not  hysterical  in  her  work.  She  gives, 
but  follows  the  gift  and  sees  that  it  goes  to  the 
spot.  She  has  studied  results  and  knows  which 
charity  pays  a  premium  in  smiles,  and  tears, 
and  joy,  and  better  life,  and  very  little  of  her 
money  will  be  wasted  in  impracticable  schemes. 
She  has  a  happy  faculty  of  getting  in  actual 
touch  with  conditions,  realizing  that  she  cannot 
hit  an  object  near  at  hand  by  aiming  at  a  star. 

Miss  Gould's  practical  business  sense  was 
beautifully  exemplified  at  Montauk  Point. 
Hundreds  of  soldiers  from  the  hospitals  in  Cuba 
and  Porto  Rico  were  suddenly  unloaded  there. 
Elsewhere  were  government  supplies  —  tents 
and  cots  and  rations, — but  there  the  sick 
soldiers  were  without  shelter,  were  hungry,  had 
no  medicine,  and  were  sleeping  on  the  ground. 

Why?  Because  of  red  tape.  This  young 
lady  appeared  in  person  and  amazed  the  strut- 
ters in  shoulder-straps  and  the  slaves  to  disci- 
pline by  having  the  sick  soldier  boys  made  com- 
fortable on  army  cots,  placed  in  army  tents,  and 
fed  on  army  rations, — and  this,  too,  without 
any  "  requisition.  "  She  grasped  a  situation, 
cut  the  ropes  of  theory  and  introduced  practice. 
From  her  own  purse  she  provided  nurses  and 
dainties,  and  bundled  up  scores  of  soldier  boys 

58 


Miss  Helen  Gould 

and  sent  them  to  her  beautiful  villa  on  the  Hud- 
son. 

The  camp  rang  with  this  refrain :  — 

You're  the  angel  of  the  camp, 

Helen  Gould, 

In  the  sun-rays,  in  the  damp, 
On  the  weary,  weary  tramp, 
To  our  darkness  you're  a  lamp, 

Helen  Gould. 

Thoughts   of  home  and  gentle  things, 

Helen  Gould, 

To  the  camp  your  coming  brings; 
All  the  place  with  music  rings 
At  the  rustle  of  your  wings, 

Helen  Gould. 

"  OUR  HELEN  " 

On  the  day  of  the  Dewey  parade  in  New 
York,  Miss  Gould  was  in  front  of  her  house,  on 
a  platform  she  had  erected  for  the  small  chil- 
dren of  certain  Asylums.  Mayor  Van  Wyck 
told  Admiral  Dewey  who  she  was,  and  the  Ad- 
miral stood  up  in  his  carriage  and  bowed  to  her 
three  times.  Then  the  word  went  down  the 
line  that  Miss  Gould  was  there,  and  every  com- 
pany saluted  her  as  it  passed. 

But  it  was  when  a  body  of  young  recruits 
stopped  for  a  moment  before  her  door  that  the 
real  excitement  began. 

59 


How  They  Succeeded 

"  She  shan't  marry  a  foreign  prince,  "  they 
cried,  tossing  their  hats  and  stamping  their  feet. 
"  She's  Helen,  our  Helen,  and  she  shall  not 
marry  a  foreign  prince.  " 

"  AMERICA  " 

Miss  Goul'd's  patriotism  is  very  real  and  in- 
tense, and  is  not  confined  to  times  of  war.  Two 
years  ago,  she  caused  fifty  thousand  copies  of 
the  national  hymn,  "  America,  "  to  be  printed 
and  distributed  among  the  pupils  of  the  public 
schools  of  New  York. 

"  I  believe  every  one  should  know  that  hymn 
and  sing  it,  "  she  declared,  "  if  he  sings  no 
other.  I  would  like  to  have  the  children  sing 
it  into  their  very  souls,  till  it  becomes  a  part  of 
them.  " 

She  strongly  favors  patriotic  services  in  the 
churches  on  the  Sunday  preceding  the  Fourth 
of  July,  when  she  would  like  to  hear  such  airs 
as  "  America,  "  "  Hail  Columbia,  "  and  "  The 
Star  Spangled  Banner,  "  and  see  the  sacred  edi- 
fices draped  in  red,  white,  and  blue. 

UNHERALDED  BENEFACTIONS 

Miss  Gould  has  a  strong  prejudice  against 
letting  her  many  gifts  and  charities  be  known, 

60 


Miss  Helen  Gould 

and  even  her  dearest  friends  never  know  "  what 
Helen's  doing  now.  "  Of  course,  her  great 
public  charities,  as  when  she  gives  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars  at  a  time,  are  heralded.  Her 
recent  gift  of  that  sum  to  the  government,  for 
national  defense,  has  made  her  name  beloved 
throughout  the  land;  but,  had  she  been  able,  she 
would  have  kept  that  secret  also. 

The  place  Helen  Gould  now  holds  in  the  love 
and  esteem  of  the  republic  exemplifies  how 
quickly  the  nation's  heart  responds  to  the  touch 
of  gentleness,  and  how  easy  it  is  for  wealth  to 
conquer  and  rise  triumphant,  if  only  it  be  sea- 
soned with  common  sense  and  sympathy. 

I  will  not  attempt  to  specify  the  numerous 
projects  of  charity  that  have  been  given  life  and 
vigor  by  Miss  Gould.  I  know  her  gifts  in  recent 
years  have  passed  the  million-dollar  mark. 

"  It  seems  so  easy  to  do  things  for  others,  " 
said  Miss  Gould,  recently.  It  is  easy  to  do 
good,  if  the  doing  is  natural  and  without 
thought  of  self-glorification. 

Miss  Gould's  views  upon  "How  to  Make  the 
Most  of  Wealth,  "  are  well  set  forth  in  her  ad- 
mirable letter  to  Dr.  Louis  Klopsch,  as  published 
in  the  Christian  Herald: — 

"The Christian  idea  that  wealth  is  a  steward- 

61 


How  They  Succeeded 

ship,  or  trust,  and  not  to  be  used  for  one's  per- 
sonal pleasure  alone,  but  for  the  welfare  of 
others,  certainly  seems  the  noblest;  and  those 
who  have  more  money  or  broader  culture  owe  a 
debt  to  those  who  have  had  fewer  opportuni- 
ties. 

"  And  there  are  so  many  ways  one  can  help. 
Children,  the  sick  and  the  aged  especially,  have 
claims  on  our  attention,  and  the  forms  of 
work  for  them  are  numerous ;  from  kindergar- 
tens, day-nurseries  and  industrial  schools,  to 
1  homes  '  and  hospitals.  Our  institutions  for 
higher  education  require  gifts  in  order  to  do 
their  best  work,  for  the  tuition  fees  do  not  cover 
the  expense  of  the  advantages  offered;  and  cer- 
tainly such  societies  as  those  in  our  churches, 
and  the  Young  Woman's  Christian  Association 
and  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
deserve  our  hearty  cooperation.  The  earnest 
workers  who  so  nobly  and  lovingly  give  their 
lives  to  promote  the  welfare  of  others,  give  far 
more  than  though  they  had  simply  made  gifts  of 
money,  so  those  who  cannot  afford  to  give 
largely  need  not  feel  discouraged  on  that  ac- 
count. After  all,  sympathy  and  good-will  may 
be  a  greater  force  than  wealth,  and  we  can  all 
extend  to  others  a  kindly  feeling  and  courteous 

62 


Miss  Helen  Gould 

consideration,  that  will  make  life  sweeter  and 
better. 

"  Sometimes  it  seems  to  me  we  do  not  suf- 
ficiently realize  the  good  that  is  done  by  money 
that  is  used  in  the  different  industries  in  giving 
employment  to  great  numbers  of  people  under 
the  direction  of  clever  men  and  women;  and 
surely  it  takes  more  ability,  perseverance  and 
time  to  successfully  manage  such  an  enterprise 
than  to  merely  make  gifts.  " 

HER  PERSONALITY 

Miss  Gould's  life  at  Tarrytown  is  an  ideal 
one.  She  runs  down  to  the  city  at  frequent  in- 
tervals, to  attend  to  business  affairs;  but  she 
lives  at  Lyndhurst.  She  entertains  but  few 
visitors,  and  in  turn  visits  but  seldom.  The 
management  of  her  property,  to  which  she  gives 
close  attention,  makes  no  inconsiderable  call 
upon  her  time.  "  I  have  no  time  for  society,  " 
she  said,  "  and  indeed  I  do  not  care  for  it  at 
all;  it  is  very  well  for  those  who  like  it.  " 

Would  you  have  an  idea  of  her  personality? 
"  If  so,  "  replies  Landis,  "  you  will  think  of  a 
good  young  woman  in  your  own  town,  who 
loves  her  parents  and  her  home;  who  is  devoted 
to  the  church;  who  thinks  of  the  poor  on 

63 


How  They  Succeeded 

Thanksgiving  Day  and  Christmas;  whose  face 
is  bright  and  manner  unaffected;  whose  dress 
is  elegant  in  its  simplicity;  who  takes  an  in- 
terest in  all  things,  from  politics  to  religion; 
whom  children  love  and  day-laborers  greet  by 
reverently  lifting  the  hat;  and  who,  if  she  were 
graduated  from  a  home  seminary  or  college, 
would  receive  a  bouquet  from  every  boy  in 
town.  If  you  can  think  of  such  a  young  wo- 
man, and  nearly  every  community  has  one 
(and  ninety-nine  times  out  of  a  hundred  she  is 
poor),  you  have  a  fair  idea  of  the  impression 
made  on  a  plain  man  from  a  country  town  by 
Miss  Gould." 

Helen  Miller  Gould  is  just  at  the  threshold 
of  her  beautiful  career.  What  a  promise  is 
there  in  her  life  and  work  for  the  coming  cen- 
tury? 

She  has  pledged  a  Hall  of  Fame  for  the  cam- 
pus of  the  New  York  University,  overlooking 
the  Harlem  river.  It  will  have  tablets  for  the 
names  of  fifty  distinguished  Americans;  and 
proud  will  be  the  descendants  of  those  whose 
names  are  inscribed  thereon. 

The  human  heart  is  the  tablet  upon  which 
Miss  Gould  has  inscribed  her  name,  and  her 
"  Hall  of  Fame  "  is  as  broad  and  high  as  the 
republic  itself. 

64 


IV    p:S  i|I 

Philip    D.   Armour's   Business 
Career 

I  MET  Mr.  Armour  in  the  quiet  of  the  Ar- 
mour Institute,  his  great  philanthropic 
school  for  young  men  and  women.  He 
was  very  courteous,  and  there  was  no  delay, 
lie  took  my  hand  with  a  firm  grasp — reading 
with  his  steady  gaze  such  of  my  characteristics 
as  interested  him, — and  saying,  at  the  same 
time,  "  Well,  sir." 

In  stating  my  desire  to  learn  such  lessons 
from  his  business  career  as  might  be  helpful  to 
young  men,  I  inquired  whether  the  average 
American  boy  of  to-day  has  equally  as  good  a 
chance  to  succeed  in  the  world  as  he  had,  when 
he  began  life. 

"  Every  bit  and  better.  The  affairs  of  life  are 
larger.  There  are  greater  things  to  do.  There 
was  never  before  such  a  demand  for  able  men.  " 

"  Were  the  conditions  surrounding  your 
youth  especially  difficult  ?  " 

65 


How  They  Succeeded 

"  No.  They  were  those  common  to  every 
small  New  York  town  in  1832.  I  was  born  at 
Stockbridge,  in  Madison  county.  Our  family 
had  its  roots  in  Scotland.  My  father's  ances- 
tors were  the  Robertsons,  Watsons,  and  Mc- 
Gregors of  Scotland;  my  mother  came  of  the 
Puritans,  who  settled  in  Connecticut." 

"  Dr.  Gunsaulus  says,  "  I  ventured,  "  that  all 
these  streams  of  heredity  set  toward  business 
affairs. " 

"  Perhaps  so.  I  like  trading  well  My  father 
was  reasonably  prosperous  and  independent  for 
those  times.  My  mother  had  been  a  school- 
teacher. There  were  six  boys,  and  of  course 
such  a  household  had  to  be  managed  with  the 
strictest  economy  in  those  days.  My  mother 
thought  it  her  duty  to  bring  to  our  home  some 
of  the  rigid  discipline  of  the  school-room.  We 
were  all  trained  to  work  together,  and  every- 
thing was  done  as  systematically  as  possible.  " 

"  Had  you  access  to  any  books?  " 

"  Yes,  the  Bible,  '  Pilgrim's  Progress/  and  a 
History  of  the  United  States.  " 

It  is  said  of  the  latter,  by  those  closest  to  Mr. 
Armour,  that  it  was  as  full  of  shouting  Ameri- 
canism as  anything  ever  written,  and  that  Mr. 
Armour's  whole  nature  is  yet  colored  by  its 

66 


Philip  D.  Armour 

stout  American  prejudices;  also  that  it  was  read 
and  re-read  by  the  Armour  children,  though  of 
this  the  great  merchant  did  not  speak. 

"  Were  you  always  of  a  robust  constitu- 
tion?" I  asked. 

"  Yes,  sir.  All  our  boys  were.  We  were 
stout  enough  to  be  bathed  in  an  ice-cold  spring, 
out  of  doors,  when  at  home.  There  were  no 
bath  tubs  and  warm  water  arrangements  in 
those  days.  We  had  to  be  strong.  My  father 
was  a  stern  Scotchman,  and  when  he  laid  his 
plans  they  were  carried  out.  When  he  set  us 
boys  to  work,  we  worked.  It  was  our  mother 
who  insisted  on  keeping  us  all  at  school,  and 
who  looked  after  our  educational  needs;  while 
our  father  saw  to  it  that  we  had  plenty  of  good, 
hard  work  on  the  farm.  " 

"  How  did  you  enjoy  that  sort  of  life?  "  I 
asked. 

"  Well  enough,  but  not  much  more  than  any 
boy  does.  Boys  are  always  more  or  less  afraid 
of  hard  work.  " 

The  truth  is,  I  have  heard,  but  not  from  Mr. 
Armour,  that  when  he  attended  the  district 
school,  he  was  as  full  of  pranks  and  capers  as 
the  best;  and  that  he  traded  jack-knives  in 
summer  and  bob-sleds  in  winter.  Young  Ar- 

67 


How  They  Succeeded 

mour  was  often  to  be  found,  in  the  winter, 
coasting  down  the  long  hill  near  the  school- 
house.  Later,  he  had  a  brief  term  of  school- 
ing at  the  Cazenovia  Seminary. 

FOOTING  IT  TO  CALIFORNIA 

"  When  did  you  leave  the  farm  for  a  mer- 
cantile life  ?"  I  asked. 

"  I  was  a  clerk  in  a  store  in  Stockbridge  for 
two  years,  after  I  was  seventeen,  but  was  en- 
gaged with  the  farm  more  or  less,  and  wanted 
to  get  out  of  that  life.  I  was  a  little  over  seven- 
teen years  old  when  the  California  gold  excite- 
ment of  1849  reached  our  town.  Wonderful 
tales  were  told  of  gold  already  found,  and  the 
prospects  for  more  on  the  Pacific  coast.  I 
brooded  over  the  difference  between  tossing  hay 
in  the  hot  sun  and  digging  up  gold  by  handfuls, 
until  one  day  I  threw  down  my  pitchfork  and 
went  over  to  the  house  and  told  mother  that 
I  had  quit  that  kind  of  work. 

"  People  with  plenty  of  money  could  sail 
around  Cape  Horn  in  those  days,  but  I  had  no 
money  to  spare,  and  so  decided  to  walk  across 
the  country.  That  is,  we  were  carried  part  of 
the  way  by  rail  and  walked  the  rest.  I  per- 


68 


Philip  D.  Armour 

suaded  one  of  the  neighbor's  boys,  Calvin  Gil- 
bert, to  go  along  with  me,  and  we  started. 

"  I  provided  myself  with  an  old  carpet  sack 
into  which  to  put  my  clothes.  I  bought  a  new 
pair  of  boots,  and  when  we  had  gone  as  far  as 
we  could  on  canals  and  wagons,  I  bought  two 
oxen.  With  these  we  managed  for  awhile,  but 
eventually  reached  California  afoot." 

Young  Armour  suffered  a  severe  illness  on 
the  journey,  and  was  nursed  by  his  companion 
Gilbert,  who  gathered  herbs  and  steeped  them 
for  his  friend's  use,  and  once  rode  thirty  miles 
in  the  rain  to  get  a  doctor.  When  they  reached 
California,  he  fell  in  with  Edward  Croarkin,  a 
miner,  who  nursed  him  back  to  health.  The 
manner  in  which  he  remembered  these  men 
gives  keen  satisfaction  to  the  friends  of  the 
great  merchant. 

"  Did  you  have  any  money  when  you  arrived 
at  the  gold-fields?" 

"  Scarcely  any.  I  struck  right  out,  though, 
and  found  a  place  where  I  could  dig,  and  I 
struck  pay  dirt  in  a  little  time." 

"  Did  you  work  entirely  alone?  " 

"  No.  It  was  not  long  before  I  met  Mr. 
Croarkin  at  a  little  mining  camp  called  Virginia. 


How  They  Succeeded 

He  had  the  next  claim  to  mine,  and  we  became 
partners.  After  a  little  while,  he  went  away, 
but  came  back  in  a  year.  We  then  bought  in 
together.  The  way  we  ran  things  was  l  turn 
about/  Croarkin  would  cook  one  week,  and  I 
the  next,  and  then  we  would  have  a  clean-up 
every  Sunday  morning.  We  baked  our  own 
bread,  and  kept  a  few  hens,  which  kept  us  sup- 
plied with  eggs.  There  was  a  man  named  Cha- 
pin  who  had  a  little  store  in  the  village,  and  we 
would  take  our  gold  dust  there  and  trade  it  for 
groceries." 

THE  DITCH 

"  Did  you  discover  much  gold  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Oh,  I  worked  with  pretty  good  success, — 
nothing  startling.  I  didn't  waste  much,  and 
tried  to  live  carefully.  I  also  studied  the  busi- 
ness opportunities  around,  and  persuaded  some 
of  my  friends  to  join  me  in  buying  and  develop- 
ing a  '  ditch,' — a  kind  of  aqueduct,  to  convey 
water  to  diggers  and  washers.  That  proved 
more  profitable  than  digging  for  gold,  and  at 
the  end  of  the  year,  the  others  sold  out  to  me, 
took  their  earnings  and  went  home.  I  stayed, 
and  bought  up  several  other  water-powers,  until, 
in  1856,  I  thought  I  had  enough,  and  so  I  sold 
out  and  came  East." 


Philip  D.  Armour 

"  How  much  had  you  made,  altogether?  " 

"  About  four  thousand  dollars." 

This  was  when  Mr.  Armour  was  twenty-four 
years  old, — his  capital  for  beginning  to  do 
business. 

HE  ENTERS  THE  GRAIN  MARKET 

"  Did  you  return  to  Stockbridge  ?  " 
"  A  little  while,  but  my  ambition  set  in  an- 
other direction.  I  had  been  studying  the 
methods  then  -used  for  moving  the  vast  and 
growing  food  products  of  the  West,  such  as 
grain  and  cattle,  and  I  believed  that  I  could 
improve  them  and  make  money.  The  idea  and 
the  field  interested  me  and  I  decided  to  enter  it. 
"  My  standing  was  good,  and  I  raised  the 
money,  and  bought  what  was  then  the  largest 
elevator  in  Milwaukee.  This  put  me  in  contact 
with  the  movement  of  grain.  At  that  time, 
John  Plankington  had  been  established  in  Mil- 
waukee a  number  of  years,  and,  in  partnership 
with  Frederick  Layton,  had  built  up  a  good 
pork-packing  concern.  I  bought  in  with  those 
gentlemen,  and  so  came  in  contact  with  the 
work  I  liked.  One  of  my  brothers,  Herman, 
had  established  himself  in  Chicago  some  time 
before,  in  the  grain-commission  business.  I  got 

71 


How  They  Succeeded 

him  to  turn  that  over  to  the  care  of  another 
brother,  Joseph,  so  that  he  might  go  to  New 
York  as  a  member  of  the  new  firm,  of  which  I 
was  a  partner.  It  was  important  that  the  Mil- 
waukee and  Chicago  houses  should  be  able  to 
ship  to  a  house  of  their  own  in  New  York, — 
that  is,  to  themselves.  Risks  were  avoided  in 
this  way,  and  we  were  certain  of  obtaining  all 
that  the  ever-changing  markets  could  offer  us." 

"  When  did  you  begin  to  build  up  your  Chi- 
cago interests?  " 

"  They  were  really  begun,  before  the  war,  by 
my  brother  Herman.  When  he  went  to  New 
York  for  us,  we  began  adding  a  small  packing- 
house to  the  Chicago  commission  branch.  It 
gradually  grew  with  the  growth  of  the  West." 

MR.   ARMOUR'S   ACUTE   PERCEPTION   OF   THE 
COMMERCIAL  CONDITIONS  FOR  BUILDING 

UP  A  GREAT  BUSINESS 

"  Is  there  any  one  thing  that  accounts  for  the 
immense  growth  of  the  packing  industry  here?  " 
I  asked. 

"  System  and  the  growth  of  the  West  did  it. 
Things  were  changing  at  startling  rates  in  those 
days.  The  West  was  growing  fast.  Its  great 
areas  of  production  offered  good  profits  to  men 

72  _ 


Philip  D.  Armour 

who  would  handle  and  ship  the  products.  Rail- 
v/ay  lines  were  reaching  out  in  new  directions, 
or  increasing  their  capacities  and  lowering  their 
rates  of  transportation.  These  changes  and  the 
growth  of  the  country  made  the  creation  of  a 
food-gathering  and  delivering  system  neces- 
sary. Other  things  helped.  At  that  time 
(1863),  a  great  many  could  see  that  the  war 
was  going  to  terminate  favorably  for  the  Union. 
Farming  operations  had  been  enlarged  by  the 
war  demand  and  war  prices.  The  state  bank- 
ing system  had  been  done  away  with,  and  we 
had  a  uniform  currency,  available  everywhere, 
so  that  exchanges  between  the  East  and  the 
West  had  become  greatly  simplified.  Nothing 
more  was  needed  than  a  steady  watchfulness 
of  the  markets  by  competent  men  in  continu- 
ous telegraphic  communication  with  each  other, 
and  who  knew  the  legitimate  demand  and  sup- 
ply, in  order  to  sell  all  products  quickly  and 
with  profit." 

SYSTEM    AND    GOOD    MEASURE 

"  Do  you  believe  that  system  does  so  much  ?  " 
I  ventured. 

"  System  and  good  measure.  Give  a  measure 
heaped  full  and  running  over,  and  success  is 

73 


How  They  Succeeded 

certain.  That  is  what  it  means  to  be  the  intelli- 
gent servants  of  a  great  public  need.  We  be- 
lieved in  thoughtfully  adopting  every  attainable 
improvement,  mechanical  or  otherwise,  in  the 
methods  and  appliances  for  handling  every 
pound  of  grain  or  flesh.  Right  liberality  and 
right  economy  will  do  everything  where  a  pub- 
lic need  is  being  served.  Then,  too,  our 

METHODS 

improved  all  the  time.  There  was  a  time  when 
many  parts  of  cattle  were  wasted,  and  the 
health  of  the  city  injured  by  the  refuse.  Now, 
by  adopting  the  best  known  methods,  nothing 
is  wasted;  and  buttons,  fertilizers,  glue  and 
other  things  are  made  cheaper  and  better  for 
the  world  in  general,  out  of  material  that  was 
before  a  waste  and  a  menace.  I  believe  in  find- 
ing out  the  truth  about  all  things — the  very 
latest  truth  or  discovery, — and  applying  it." 
"  You  attribute  nothing  to  good  fortune?  " 
"  Nothing !  "  Certainly  the  word  came  well 
from  a  man  whose  energy,  integrity,  and  busi- 
ness ability  made  more  money  out  of  a  ditch 
than  other  men  were  making  out  of  rich  placers 
in  the  gold  region. 


74 


Philip  D.  Armour 

THE  TURNING  POINT 

"  May  I  ask  what  you  consider  the  turning- 
point  of  your  career?  " 

"  The  time  when  I  began  to  save  the  money 
I  earned  at  the  gold-fields." 

TRUTH; 

"  What  trait  do  you  consider  most  essential 
in  young  men  ?  " 

"  Truth.  Let  them  get  that.  Young  men 
talk  about  getting  capital  to  work  with.  Let 
them  get  truth  on  board,  and  capital  follows. 
It's  easy  enough  to  get  that." 

A  GREAT  ORATOR,  AND  A  GREAT  CHARITY 

"  Did  you  always  desire  to  follow  a  commer- 
cial, rather  than  a  professional  life  ?  " 

"  Not  always.  I  have  no  talent  in  any  other 
direction;  but  I  should  have  liked  to  be  a  great 
orator." 

Mr.  Armour  would  say  no  more  on  this  sub- 
ject, but  his  admiration  for  oratory  has  been 
demonstrated  in  a  remarkable  way. 

It  was  after  a  Sunday  morning  discourse  by 
the  splendid  orator,  Dr.  Gunsaulus,  at  Plymouth 


75 


How  They  Succeeded 

Church,  Chicago,  in  which  the  latter  had  set 
forth  his  views  on  the  subject  of  educating  chil- 
dren, that  Mr.  Armour  came  forward  and 
said : — 

"  You  believe  in  those  ideas  of  yours,  do 
you?" 

"  I  certainly  do,"  said  Dr.  Gunsaulus. 

"  And  would  you  carry  them  out  if  you  had 
the  opportunity?  " 

"  I  would." 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  Mr.  Armour,  "  if  you  will 
give  me  five  years  of  your  time,  I  will  give  you 
the  money." 

"  But  to  carry  out  my  ideas  would  take  a 
million  dollars !  "  exclaimed  Gunsaulus. 

"  I  have  made  a  little  money  in  my  time," 
returned  Mr.  Armour.  And  so  the  famous  Ar- 
mour Institute  of  Technology,  to  which  its 
founder  has  already  given  sums  aggregating 
$2,800,000,  was  associated  with  Mr.  Armour's 
love  of  oratory. 

One  of  his  lieutenants  says  that  Gerritt  Smith, 
the  old  abolitionist,  was  Armour's  boyhood's 
hero,  and  that  to-day  Mr.  Armour  will  go  far 
to  hear  a  good  speaker,  often  remarking  that 
he  would  have  preferred  to  be  a  great  orator 
rather  than  a  great  capitalist. 

76 


Philip  D.  Armour 

EASE  IN  HIS  WORK 

"  There  is  no  need  to  ask  you,"  I  continued, 
"  whether  you  believe  in  constant,  hard  labor?  " 

"  I  should  not  call  it  hard.  I  believe  in  close 
application,  of  course,  while  laboring.  Over- 
work is  not  necessary  to  success.  Every  man 
should  have  plenty  of  rest.  I  have." 

"  You  must  rise  early  to  be  at  your  office  at 
half  past  seven  ?  " 

"  Yes,  but  I  go  to  bed  early.  I  am  not  burn- 
ing the  candle  at  both  ends." 

The  enormous  energy  of  this  man,  who  is  too 
modest  to  3iscuss  it,  is  displayed  in  the  most 
normal  manner.  Though  he  sits  all  day  at  a 
desk  which  has  direct  cable  connection  with 
London,  Liverpool,  Calcutta,  and  other  great 
centers  of  trade,  with  which  he  is  in  constant 
connection, — though  he  has  at  his  hand  long- 
distance telephone  connection  with  New  York, 
New  Orleans,  and  San  Francisco,  and  direct 
wires  from  his  room  to  almost  all  parts  of  the 
world,  conveying  messages  in  short  sentences 
upon  subjects  which  involve  the  moving  of  vast 
amounts  of  stock  and  cereals,  and  the  exchange 
of  millions  in  money,  he  is  not,  seemingly,  an 
overworked  man.  The  great  subjects  to  which 

77 


How  They  Succeeded 

he  gives  calm,  undivided  attention  from  early 
morning  until  evening,  are  laid  aside  with  the 
ease  with  which  one  doffs  his  raiment,  and  out- 
side of  his  office  the  cares  weigh  upon  him  no 
more.  His  mind  takes  up  new  and  simpler 
things. 

"  What  do  you  do,"  I  inquired,  "  after  your 
hard  day's  work, — think  about  it  ?  " 

"  Not  at  all.  I  drive,  take  up  home  subjects, 
and  never  think  of  the  office  until  I  return  to  it." 

"  Your  sleep  is  never  disturbed?  " 

"  Not  at  all." 

A   BUSINESS   KING 

And  yet  the  business  which  this  man  forgets, 
when  he  gathers  children  about  him  and  moves 
in  his  simple  home  circle,  amounts  in  one  year, 
to  over  $100,000,000  worth  of  food  products, 
manufactured  and  distributed;  the  hogs  killed, 
1,750,000;  the  cattle,  1,080,000;  the  sheep, 
625,000.  Eleven  thousand  men  are  constantly 
employed,  and  the  wages  paid  them  are  over 
$5,500,000;  the  railway  cars  owned  and  moving 
about  all  parts  of  the  country,  four  thousand; 
the  wagons  of  many  kinds  and  of  large  number, 
drawn  by  seven  hundred  and  fifty  horses.  The 
glue  factory,  employing  seven  hundred  and  fifty 

78 


Philip  D.  Armour 

hands,  makes  over  twelve  million  pounds  of 
glue.  In  his  private  office,  it  is  he  who  takes 
care  of  all  the  general  affairs  of  this  immense 
world  of  industry,  and  yet  at  half-past  four  he 
is  done,  and  the  whole  subject  is  comfortably 
off  his  mind. 

TRAINING  YOUTH  FOR  BUSINESS 

"  Do  you  believe  in  inherited  abilities,  or  that 
any  boy  can  be  taught  and  trained,  and  made  a 
great  and  able  man  ?  " 

"  I  recognize  inherited  ability.  Some  people 
have  it,  and  only  in  a  certain  direction;  but  I 
think  men  can  be  taught  and  trained  so  that 
they  become  much  better  and  more  useful  than 
they  would  be,  otherwise.  Some  boys  require 
more  training  and  teaching  than  others.  There 
is  prosperity  for  everyone,  according  to  his 
ability." 

"  What  would  you  do  with  those  who  are 
naturally  less  competent  than  others  ?  " 

"  Train  them,  and  give  them  work  according 
to  their  ability.  I  believe  that  life  is  all  right, 
and  that  this  difference  which  nature  makes  is 
all  right.  Everything  is  good,  and  is  coming 
out  satisfactorily,  and  we  ought  to  make  the 
most  of  conditions,  and  try  to  use  and  improve 

79 


How  They  Succeeded 

everything.  The  work  needed  is  here,  and 
everyone  should  set  about  doing  it" 

When  asked  if  he  thought  the  chances  for 
young  men  as  good  to-day  as  they  were  when 
he  was  young.  "  Yes,"  he  said,  "  I  think  so. 
The  world  is  changing  every  day  and  new  fields 
are  constantly  opening.  We  have  new  ideas, 
new  inventions,  new  methods  of  manufacture, 
and  new  ways  to-day  everywhere.  There  is 
plenty  of  room  for  any  man  who  can  do  any- 
thing well.  The  electrical  field  is  a  wonderful 
one.  There  are  other  things  equally  good,  and 
the  right  man  is  never  at  a  loss  for  an  oppor- 
tunity. Provided  he  has  some  ability  and  good 
sense  to  start  with,  is  thrifty,  honest  and  eco- 
nomical, there  is  no  reason  why  any  young  man 
should  not  accumulate  money  and  attain  so 
called  success  in  life." 

When  asked  to  what  qualities  he  attributed 
his  own  success,  Mr.  Armour  said :  "  I  think 
that  thrift  and  economy  had  much  to  do  with 
it.  I  owe  much  to  my  mother's  training  and  to 
a  good  line  of  Scotch  ancestors,  who  have  al- 
ways been  thrifty  and  economical.  As  to  my 
business  education,  I  never  had  any.  I  am,  in 
fact,  a  good  deal  like  Topsy,  *  I  just  growed.' 

80 


Philip  D.  Armour 

My  success  has  been  largely  a  matter  of  organ- 
ization. 

"  I  have  always  made  it  a  point  to  surround 
myself  with  good  men.  I  take  them  when  they 
are  young  and  keep  them  just  as  long  as  I  can. 
Nearly  all  of  the  men  I  now  have,  have  grown 
up  with  me.  Many  of  them  have  worked  with 
me  for  twenty  years.  They  have  started  in  at 
low  wages,  and  have  been  advanced  until  they 
have  reached  the  highest  positions."  Mr.  Ar- 
mour thinks  that  most  men  who  accumulate 
a  large  amount  of  money,  inherited  the  money- 
making  instinct.  The  power  of  making  and 
accumulating  money,  he  says,  is  as  much  a 
natural  gift  as  are  those  of  a  singer  or  an  artist. 
"  The  germs  of  the  power  to  make  money  must 
be  in  the  mind.  Take,  for  instance,  the  people 
we  have  working  with  us.  I  can  get  millions 
of  good  bookkeepers  or  accountants,  but  not 
more  than  one  out  of  five  hundred  in  all  of  those 
I  have  employed  has  made  a  great  success  as  an 
organizer  or  trader." 

Mr.  Armour  is  a  great  believer  in  young  men 
and  young  brains.  He  never  discharges  a  man 
if  he  can  possibly  avoid  it.  If  the  man  is  not 
doing  good  work  where  he  is,  he  puts  him  in 
some  other  department,  but  never  discharges 

81 


How  They  Succeeded 

him  if  he  can  find  him  other  work.  He  will 
not,  however,  tolerate  intemperance,  laziness  or 
getting  into  debt.  Some  time  ago  a  policeman 
entered  his  office.  In  answer  to  Mr.  Armour's 
question,  "What  do  you  want  here?"  he  re- 
plied :  "  I  want  to  garnishee  one  of  your  men's 
wages  for  debt."  "  Indeed,"  said  Mr.  Armour, 
"  and  who  is  the  man  ?  "  Asking  the  officer 
into  his  private  room  he  sent  for  the  debtor. 
"  How  long  have  you  been  in  debt?  "  asked  Mr. 
Armour.  The  clerk  replied  that  he  had  been 
behind  for  twenty  years  and  could  not  seem  to 
catch  up.  "  But  you  get  a  good  salary,  don't 
you?"  "Yes,  but  I  can't  get  out  of  debt." 
"  But  you  must  get  out,  or  you  must  leave  here," 
said  Mr.  Armour.  "  How  much  do  you  owe?  " 
The  clerk  then  gave  the  amount,  which  was 
less  than  a  thousand- dollars.  "  Well,"  said  Mr. 
Armour,  handing  him  a  check,  "  there  is 
enough  to  pay  all  your  debts,  and  if  I  hear  of 
you  again  getting  into  debt,  you  will  have  to 
leave."  The  clerk  paid  his  debts  and  remodeled 
his  life  on  a  cash  basis. 

PROMPT  TO  ACT 

In  illustration  of  Mr.  Armour's  aptitude  for 
doing  business,  and  his  energy,  it  is  related  that 

82 


Philip  D.  Armour 

when,  in  1893,  l°cal  forces  planned  to  defeat 
him  in  the  grain  market,  and  everyone  was  cry- 
ing that  at  last  the  great  Goliath  had  met  his 
David,  he  was  all  energy.  He  had  ordered  im- 
mense quantities  of  wheat.  The  opposition  had 
shrewdly  secured  every  available  place  of  stor- 
age, and  rejoiced  that  the  great  packer,  having 
no  place  to  store  his  property,  would  suffer  im- 
mense loss,  and  must  capitulate.  He  foresaw 
the  fray  and  its  dangers,  and,  going  over  on 
Goose  Island,  bought  property  at  any  price,  and 
began  the  construction  of  immense  elevators. 
The  town  was  placarded  with  the  truth  that 
anyone  could  get  work  at  Armour's  elevators. 
No  one  believed  they  could  be  done  in  time,  but 
three  shifts  of  men  working  night  and  day,  often 
under  the  direct  supervision  of  the  millionaire, 
gradually  forced  the  work  ahead,  and  when,  on 
the  appointed  day,  the  great  grain-ships  began 
to  arrive,  the  opposition  realized  failure.  The 
vessels  began  to  pour  the  contents  of  their  im- 
mense holds  into  these  granaries,  and  the  fight 
was  over. 

FORESIGHT 

The  foresight  that  sent  him  to  New  York  in 
1864,  to  sell  pork,  brought  him  back  from  Eu- 

83 


How  They  Succeeded 

rope  in  1893,  months  before  the  impending 
panic  was  dreamed  of  by  other  merchants.  It 
is  told  of  him  that  he  called  all  his  head  men  to 
New  York,  and  announced  to  them : — 

"  Gentlemen,  there's  going  to  be  financial 
trouble  soon." 

"  Why,  Mr.  Armour,"  they  said,  "  you  must 
be  mistaken.  Things  were  never  better.  You 
have  been  ill,  and  are  suddenly  apprehensive." 

"  Oh,  no,"  he  said,  "  I'm  not.  There  is  going 
to  be  trouble;  "  and  he  gave  as  his  reasons  cer- 
tain conditions  which  existed  in  nearly  all  coun- 
tries, which  none  of  those  present  had  thought 
of.  "  Now,"  said  he  to  the  first  of  his  many 
lieutenants,  "  how  much  will  you  need  to  run 
your  department  until  next  year  ?  " 

The  head  man  named  his  need.  The  others 
were  asked,  each  in  turn,  the  same  question,  and, 
when  all  were  through,  he  counted  up,  and, 
turning  to  the  company,  said : — 

"  Gentlemen,  go  back  and  borrow  all  you 
need  in  Chicago,  on  my  credit.  Use  my  name 
for  all  it  will  bring  in  the  way  of  loans." 

FOREARMED  AGAINST  PANIC 

The  lieutenants  returned,  and  the  name  of 
Armour  was  strained  to  its  utmost  limit.  When 

84 


Philip  D.  Armour 

all  had  been  borrowed,  the  financial  flurry  sud- 
denly loomed  up,  but  it  did  not  worry  the  great 
packer.  In  his  vaults  were  $8,000,000  in 
gold.  All  who  had  loaned  him  at  interest  then 
hurried  to  his  doors,  fearing  that  he  also  was 
imperiled.  They  found  him  supplied  with  ready 
money,  and  able  to  compel  them  to  wait  until 
the  stipulated  time  of  payment,  or  to  force  them 
to  abandon  their  claims  of  interest  for  their 
money,  and  so  tide  him  over  the  unhappy  per- 
iod. It  was  a  master  stroke,  and  made  the 
name  of  the  great  packer  a  power  in  the  world 
of  finance. 

SOME  SECRETS  OF  SUCCESS 

"  Do  you  consider  your  financial  decisions 
which  you  make  quickly  to  be  brilliant  intui- 
tions?" I  asked. 

"  I  never  did  anything  worth  doing  by  acci- 
dent, nor  did  anything  I  have  come  that  way. 
No,  I  never  decide  anything  without  knowing 
the  conditions  of  the  market,  and  never  begin 
unless  satisfied  concerning  the  conclusion." 

"  Not  everyone  could  do  that,"  I  said. 

"  I  cannot  do  everything.  Every  man  can  do 
something,  and  there  is  plenty  to  do, — never 
more  than  now.  The  problems  to  be  solved  are 

85 


How  They  Succeeded 

greater  now  than  ever  before.  Never  was  there 
more  need  of  able  men.  I  am  looking  for 
trained  men  all  the  time.  More  money  is  being 
offered  for  them  everywhere  than  formerly." 

"  Do  you  consider  that  happiness  consists  in 
labor  alone?  " 

"  It  consists  in  doing  something  for  others. 
If  you  give  the  world  better  material,  better 
measure,  better  opportunities  for  living  respect- 
ably, there  is  happiness  in  that.  You  cannot 
give  the  world  anything  without  labor,  and 
there  is  no  satisfaction  in  anything  but  such 
labor  as  looks  toward  doing  this,  and  does  it." 


86 


V 

What  Miss  Mary  E.  Proctor  Did 
to  Popularize  Astronomy 

YOU  can  never  know  what  your  possi- 
bilities are,"  said  Miss  Proctor,  "till 
you    have    put   yourself    to    the    test. 
There  are  many,  many  women  who  long  to 
do  something,  and  could  succeed,  if  they  would 
only  banish  their  doubts,  and  plunge  in.     For 
example,   I  was  not  at  all  sure  that  I  could 
interest  audiences  with  talks  on  astronomy,  but, 
in  1893,  I  began,  and  since  then  have  given 
between  four  and  five  hundred  lectures." 

Miss  Proctor  is  so  busy  spreading  knowl- 
edge of  the  beauties  and  marvels  of  the  heavens, 
that  she  was  at  home  in  New  York  for  only  a 
two  days'  interval  between  tours,  when  she  con- 
sented to  talk  to  me  about  her  work.  This  talk 
showed  such  enthusiasm  and  whole-souled  de- 
votion to  the  theme  that  it  is  easy  to  understand 
Miss  Proctor's  success  as  a  lecturer,  although 

87 


How  They  Succeeded 

she  is  physically  diminutive,  and  is  very  domes- 
tic in  her  tastes. 

AUDIENCES  ARE  APPRECIATIVE 

"  I  am  always  nervous  in  going  before  an 
audience/'  she  said,  "  but  there  is  so  much  I 
want  to  tell  them  that  I  have  no  time  at  all  to 
think  of  myself.  I  find  that  if  the  lecturer  is 
really  interested  in  the  subject,  those  who  come 
to  listen  usually  are;  and  it  is  certainly  true,  as 
I  have  learned  by  going  upon  the  platform,  tired 
out  from  a  long  journey,  that  you  cannot  ex- 
pect enthusiasm  in  your  audience,  unless  you 
are  enthusiastic  yourself.  But  I  tfiink  that  au- 
diences are  very  responsive  and  appreciative  of 
intelligent  efforts  to  interest  them,  and,  there- 
fore, I  am  sure,  that  if  a  woman  possesses,  or 
can  acquire  a  thorough  knowledge  of  some  prac- 
tical, popular  subject,  and  has  enthusiasm  and 
a  fair  knowledge  of  human  nature,  she  can  at- 
tain success  on  the  lecture  platform. 

"  The  field  is  broad,  and  far  from  over- 
crowded,  and  it  yields  bountifully  to  those  who 
are  willing  to  toil  and  wait.  There  is  Miss 
Roberts,  for  instance,  who  commands  large 
audiences  for  her  lectures  on  music;  and  Mrs. 
Lemcke,  who  has  been  remarkably  successful 


Miss  Mary  E.  Proctor 

in  her  practical  talks  on  cooking;  and  Mary 
E.  Booth,  who  gives  wonderfully  instructive 
and  entertaining  lectures  on  the  revelations  of 
the  microscope;  and  Miss  Very,  who  takes  au- 
diences of  children  on  most  delightful  and 
profitable  imaginary  trips  to  places  of  import- 
ance. 

LECTURES  TO  CHILDREN 

"  Children,  by  the  way,  are  my  most  satisfac- 
tory audiences.  Grown-up  people  never  become 
so  absorbed.  It  is  the  greatest  pleasure  of  my 
lecturing  to  talk  to  the  little  tots,  and  watch 
them  drink  it  all  in.  Indeed,  I  prepared  my 
very  first  lecture  for  children,  but  didn't  deliver 
it.  That  episode  marked  the  beginning  of  my 
career  as  a  lecturer. 

"  Do  you  ask  me  to  tell  you  about  it  ?  My 
father,  Richard  A.  Proctor,  wrote,  as  you  know, 
many  books  on  popular  astronomy.  When  I 
was  a  girl  I  did  not  read  them  very  carefully; 
my  education  at  South  Kensington,  London, 
following  a  musical  and  artistic  direction.  In 
fact,  I  was  ambitious  to  become  a  painter.  But 
when  my  father  died,  in  1888,  I  found  comfort 
in  reading  his  books  all  over  again;  and  as  he 
had  drilled  me  to  write  for  his  periodical, 


How  They  Succeeded 

'Knowledge'  I  began  to  write  articles  on  as- 
tronomy for  anyone  who  would  accept  them. 
One  day,  in  the  spring  of  1893,  I  received  a 
letter  from  Mrs.  Potter  Palmer,  asking  me  if  I 
would  talk  to  an  audience  of  children  in  the 
Children's  Building  at  the  World's  Fair.  The 
idea  of  lecturing  was  new  to  me,  but  I  decided 
that  I  would  try,  at  any  rate,  and  so  I  took 
great  pains  to  prepare  a  talk  that  I  thought  the 
children  would  understand,  and  be  interested  in. 
But  when  I  reached  the  building,  I  found  an 
audience,  not  of  children,  but  of  men  and  wo- 
men. There  was  hardly  a  child  in  all  the  as- 
sembled five  hundred  people.  It  would  never  do 
to  give  them  the  childish  talk  I  had  prepared, 
and  as  it  was  my  first  attempt  to  talk  from  a 
platform,  you  can  imagine  my  state  of  mind. 
I  was  determined,  however,  that  my  first  effort 
should  not  be  a  fiasco,  so  I  stepped  out  upon 
the  platform  and  talked  about  the  things  that 
had  most  interested  me  in  my  father's  books 
and  conversations. 

A  LESSON  IN  LECTURING 

"  I  have  lectured  a  great  many  times  since 
then,  but  my  first  lecture  was  the  most  trying. 
I  am  now  glad  that  things  happened  as  they 

90 


Miss  Mary  E,  Proctor 

did,  for  that  experience  taught  me  a  valuable 
lesson.  I  learned  not  to  commit  my  talks  to 
memory,  but  merely  to  have  the  topics  and  facts 
and  general  arrangement  of  the  lecture  well  in 
mind.  By  this  method,  I  can  change  and  adapt 
myself  to  my  audience  at  any  time;  and  I  often 
have  to  do  this.  I  am  able  to  feel  intuitively 
whether  I  have  gained  my  listeners'  sympathy 
and  interest,  and  when  I  feel  that  I  have  not,  I 
immediately  take  another  tack.  Another  great 
advantage  of  not  committing  what  you  are  go- 
ing to  say  to  memory,  word  for  word,  is  the 
added  color  and  animation  and  spontaneity 
which  the  conversational  tone  and  manner  gives 
the  lecture. 

THE  STEREOPTICON 

"  My  stereopticon  pictures  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  are  of  great  help  to  me.  They  naturally 
add  much  to  the  interest,  and  are  really  a  revela- 
tion to  most  of  my  audiences,  for  the  reason 
that  they  show  things  that  can  never  be  seen 
with  the  naked  eye.  How  my  father  would 
have  delighted  in  them,  and  how  effectively  he 
would  have  used  them.  But  celestial  photog- 
raphy had  not  been  made  practical  at  the  time  of 
his  death;  it  is,  indeed,  quite  a  new  art,  al- 

91 


How  They  Succeeded 

though  its  general  principles  are  very  simple. 
A  special  lens  and  photographic  plate  are  ad- 
justed in  the  telescope,  and  the  plate  is  exposed 
as  in  an  ordinary  camera,  except  that  the  ex- 
posure is  much  longer.  It  usually  continues  for 
about  four  hours,  the  greater  the  length  of  time 
the  greater  being  the  number  of  stars  that  will 
be  seen  in  the  photograph.  After  the  develop- 
ing, these  stars  appear  as  mere  specks  on  the 
plate.  That  they  are  so  small  is  not  surprising, 
for  most  of  them  are  stars  that  are  never  seen 
by  the  eye  alone.  When  the  photograph  is  en- 
larged by  the  stereopticon,  the  result  is  like  look- 
ing at  a  considerable  portion  of  the  heavens 
through  a  powerful  telescope. 

"  The  children  utter  exclamations  of  delight 
when  they  see  the  pictures, — the  children,  dear, 
imaginative  little  souls,  it  is  my  ambition  to  de- 
vote more  and  more  of  my  time  to  them,  and 
finally  talk  and  write  for  them  altogether.  They 
are  greatly  impressed  with  the  new  world  in 
the  skies  which  is  opened  to  them,  and  I  like  to 
think  that  these  early  impressions  will  give  them 
an  understanding  and  appreciation  of  the  won- 
ders of  astronomy  that  will  always  be  a  pleasure 
to  them. 


Miss  Mary  E.  Proctor 

"  STORIES   FROM    STAR   LAND  " 

"  For  the  children,  my  first  book,  '  Stories 
From  Star-land/  was  written.  I  tried  to  weave 
into  it  poetical  and  romantic  ideas,  that  appeal 
to  the  imaginative  mind  of  the  child,  and 
quicken  the  interest  without  any  sacrifice  of  ac- 
curacy in  the  facts  with  which  I  deal.  I  wrote 
the  book  in  a  week.  The  publisher  came  to  me 
one  Saturday,  and  told  me  that  he  would  like  a 
children's  book  on  astronomy.  I  devoted  all  my 
days  to  it  till  the  following  Saturday  night,  and 
on  Monday  morning  took  the  completed  manu- 
script to  the  publishing  house.  They  seemed 
very  much  surprised  that  it  should  be  finished 
so  soon ;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  was  not  much 
more  than  the  manual  labor  of  writing  out  the 
manuscript  that  I  did  in  that  week.  The  little 
book  itself  is  the  result  of  ten  years'  thought 
and  study. 

"  It  is  much  the  same  with  my  lectures.  I 
deliver  them  in  a  hasty,  conversational  tone,  and 
they  seem,  as  one  of  my  listeners  told  me  re- 
cently, to  be  '  just  offhand  chats/  But  in 
reality  I  devote  a  great  deal  of  labor  to  them, 
and  am  constantly  adding  new  facts  and  new 
ideas. 

93 


How  They  Succeeded 

CONCENTRATION   OF  ATTENTION 

"  I  learned  very  soon  after  I  began  my  work, 
that  /  must  give  myself  up  to  it  absolutely  if  I 
were  to  achieve  success.  There  could  be  no  side 
issues,  nothing  else  to  absorb  any  of  my  energy, 
or  take  any  of  my  thought  or  time.  One  of  the 
first  things  I  did  was  to  take  a  thorough  course 
in  singing,  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  complete 
control  of  my  voice.  I  put  aside  all  social  func- 
tions, of  which  I  am  rather  fond  and  have  since 
devoted  my  days  and  nights  to  astronomy, — 
not  that  I  work  at  night,  except  when  I  lecture; 
I  rest  and  retire  early,  so  that  in  the  morning 
I  may  have  the  spirit  and  enthusiasm  necessary 
to  do  good  work. 

"  Enthusiasm,  it  seems  to  me,  is  an  important 
factor  in  success.  It  combats  discouragement, 
makes  work  a  pleasure,  and  sacrifices  easier. 

"  A  great  many  women  fail  in  special  fields 
of  endeavor,  who  might  succeed  if  they  were 
willing  to  sacrifice  something,  and  would  not 
let  the  distractions  creep  in.  There  is  more  in 
a  woman's  life  to  divert  her  attention  from  a 
single  purpose  than  in  a  man's ;  but  if  the  woman 
has  chosen  some  line  of  effort  that  is  worthy  to 
be  called  life  work,  and  if — refusing  to  be  drawn 

94 


Miss  Mary  E.  Proctor 

aside, — she  keeps  her  eyes  steadfastly  upon  the 
goal,  I  believe  that  she  is  almost  certain  to 
achieve  success.  " 


95 


VI 

The  Boyhood  Experience  of 
President  Schurman  of  Cor- 
nell University 

AT  ten  years  of  age,  he  was  a  country  lad 
on  a  backwoods  farm  on  Prince  Ed- 
ward Island. 

At  thirteen,  he  had  become  a  clerk  in  a  coun- 
try store,  at  a  salary  of  thirty  dollars  a  year. 

At  eighteen,  he  was  a  college  student,  sup- 
porting himself  by  working  in  the  evenings  as  a 
bookkeeper. 

At  twenty,  he  had  won  a  scholarship  in  the 
University  of  London,  in  competition  with  all 
other  Canadian  students. 

At  twenty-five,  he  was  professor  of  philoso- 
phy, Acadia  College,  Nova  Scotia. 

At  thirty-eight,  he  was  appointed  President 
of  Cornell  University. 

At  forty-four,  he  was  chairman  of  President 


Jacob  Gould  Schurman 

McKinley's  special  commission  to  the  Philip- 
pines. 

In  this  summary  is  epitomized  the  career  of 
Jacob  Gould  Schurman.  It  is  a  romance  of 
real  life  such  as  is  not  unfamiliar  in  America. 
Mr.  Schurman's  career  differs  from  that  of 
some  other  self-made  men,  however.  Instead 
of  heaping  up  millions  upon  millions,  he  has 
applied  his  talents  to  winning  the  intellectual 
prizes  of  life,  and  has  made  his  way,  unaided, 
to  the  front  rank  of  the  leaders  in  thought  and 
learning  in  this  country.  His  career  is  a  source 
of  inspiration  to  all  poor  boys  who  have  their 
own  way  to  make  in  the  world,  for  he  has 
won  his  present  honors  by  his  own  unaided 
efforts. 

President  Schurman  says  of  his  early  life : — 
"  It  is  impossible  for  the  boy  of  to-day,  no 
matter  in  what  part  of  the  country  he  is 
brought  up,  to  appreciate  the  life  of  Prince  Ed- 
ward Island  as  it  was  forty  years  ago.  At  that 
time,  it  had  neither  railroads  nor  daily  news- 
papers, nor  any  of  the  dozen  other  things  that 
are  the  merest  commonplaces  nowadays,  even 
to  the  boys  of  the  country  districts.  I  did  not 
see  a  railroad  until  late  in  my  'teens  I  was 
never  inside  of  a  theatre  until  after  I  was 

97 


How  They  Succeeded 

twenty.  The  only  newspaper  that  came  to  my 
father's  house  was  a  little  provincial  weekly. 
The  only  books  the  house  contained  were  a 
few  standard  works, — such  as  the  Bible,  Bun- 
yan's  '  Pilgrim's  Progress, '  Fox's  '  Book  of 
Martyrs, '  and  a  few  others  of  that  class.  Re- 
member, too,  that  this  was  not  back  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  century,  but  little  more  than  a 
generation  ago,  for  I  was  born  in  the  year 
1854. 

"My  father  had  cleared  away  the  land  on 
which  our  house  stood.  He  was  a  poor  man, 
but  no  poorer  than  his  neighbors.  No  amount 
of  land,  and  no  amount  of  work  could  yield 
much  more  than  the  necessaries  of  life  in  that 
time  and  place.  There  were  eight  children  in 
our  family,  and  there  was  work  for  all  of  us. 

A   LONG  TRAMP   TO   SCHOOL 

"  Our  parents  were  anxious  to  have  their 
children  acquire  at  least  an  elementary  educa- 
tion; and  so,  summer  and  winter,  we  tramped 
the  mile  and  a  half  that  lay  between  our  house 
and  the  district  school,  and  the  snow  often  fell 
to  the  depth  of  five  or  six  feet  on  the  island, 
and  sometimes,  when  it  was  at  its  worst,  our 


Jacob  Gould  Schurman 

father  would  drive  us  all  to  school  in  a  big 
sleigh.  But  no  weather  was  bad  enough  to 
keep  us  away. 

"  That  would  be  looked  upon  as  a  poor  kind 
of  school,  nowadays,  I  suppose.  The  scholars 
were  of  all  ages,  and  everything,  from  A,-B,-C, 
to  the  Rule  of  Three,  was  taught  by  the  one 
teacher.  But  whatever  may  have  been  its  de- 
ficiencies, the  work  of  the  school  was  thorough. 
The  teacher  was  an  old-fashioned  drillmaster, 
and  whatever  he  drove  into  our  heads  he  put 
there  to  stay.  I  went  to  this  school  until  I 
was  thirteen,  and  by  that  time  I  had  learned  to 
read  and  write  and  spell  and  figure  with  con- 
siderable accuracy. 

"  At  the  age  of  thirteen,  I  left  home.  I  had 
formed  no  definite  plans  for  the  future.  I 
merely  wanted  to  get  into  a  village,  and  to  earn 
some  money. 

"  My  father  got  me  a  place  in  the  nearest 
town, — Summerside, — a  village  of  about  one 
thousand  inhabitants.  For  my  first  year's 
work  I  was  to  receive  thirty  dollars  and  my 
board.  Think  of  that,  young  men  of  to-day! 
Thirty  dollars  a  year  for  working  from  seven 
in  the  morning  until  ten  at  night!  But  I  was 
glad  to  get  the  place.  It  was  a  start  in  the 

99 


How  They  Succeeded 

world,  and  the  little  village  was  like  a  city  to 
my  country  eyes. 

HE  ALWAYS  SUPPORTED  HIMSELF 

"  From  the  time  I  began  working  in  the  store 
until  to-day,  I  have  always  supported  myself, 
and  during  all  the  years  of  my  boyhood  I  never 
received  a  penny  that  I  did  not  earn  myself. 
At  the  end  of  my  first  year,  I  went  to  a  larger 
store  in  the  same  town,  where  I  was  to  receive 
sixty  dollars  a  year  and  my  board.  I  kept  this 
place  for  two  years,  and  then  I  gave  it  up, 
against  the  wishes  of  my  employer,  because  I 
had  made  up  my  mind  that  I  wanted  to  get  a 
better  education.  I  determined  to  go  to  college. 

"  I  did  not  know  how  I  was  going  to  do  this, 
except  that  it  must  be  by  my  own  efforts.  I 
had  saved  about  eighty  dollars  from  my  store- 
keeping,  and  that  was  all  the  money  I  had  in 
the  world."  Out  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  dollars, 
the  only  cash  he  received  us  his  first  earnings 
during  three  years,  young  Schurman  had  saved 
eighty  dollars;  this  he  invested  in  the  begin- 
nings of  an  education. 

"  When  I  told  my  employer  of  my  plan,  he 
tried  to  dissuade  me  from  it.  He  pointed  out 
the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  my  going  to 

100 


Jacob  Gould  Schurman 

college,  and  offered  to  double  my  pay  if  I  would 
stay  in  the  store. 

THE  TURNING-POINT  OF  HIS  LIFE 

"  That  was  the  turning-point  in  my  life.  On 
one  side  was  the  certainty  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  dollars  a  year,  and  the  prospect  of  pro- 
motion as  fast  as  I  deserved  it.  Remember 
what  one  hundred  and  twenty  dollars  meant 
in  Prince  Edward  Island,  and  to  a  poor  boy 
who  had  never  possessed  such  a  sum  in  his  life. 
On  the  other  side  was  my  hope  of  obtaining  an 
education.  I  knew  that  it  involved  hard  work 
and  self-denial,  and  there  was  the  possibility  of 
failure  in  the  end.  But  my  mind  was  made  up. 
I  would  not  turn  back.  I  need  not  say  that  I 
do  not  regret  that  early  decision,  although  I 
think  that  I  should  have  made  a  successful 
storekeeper. 

"  With  my  eighty  dollars  capital,  I  began  to 
attend  the  village  high  school,  to  get  my 
preparation  for  college.  I  had  only  one  year  to 
do  it  in.  My  money  would  not  last  longer  than 
that.  I  recited  in  Latin,  Greek  and  algebra, 
all  on  the  same  day,  and  for  the  next  forty 
weeks  I  studied  harder  than  I  ever  had  before 
or  have  since.  At  the  end  of  the  year  I  entered 

101 


How  They  Succeeded 

the  competitive  examination  for  a  scholarship 
in  Prince  of  Wales  College,  at  Charlotte  Town, 
on  the  island.  I  had  small  hope  of  winning  it, 
my  preparation  had  been  so  hasty  and  incom- 
plete. But  when  the  result  was  announced,  I 
found  that  I  had  not  only  won  the  scholarship 
from  my  county,  but  stood  first  of  all  the  com- 
petitors on  the  island. 

"  The  scholarship  I  had  won  amounted  to 
only  sixty  dollars  a  year.  It  seems  little 
enough,  but  I  can  say  now,  after  nearly  thirty 
years,  that  the  winning  of  it  was  the  greatest 
success  I  have  ever  had.  I  have  had  other  re- 
wards, which,  to  most  persons,  would  seem 
immeasurably  greater,  but  with  this  difference : 
that  first  success  was  essential;  without  it  I 
could  not  have  gone  on.  The  others  I  could 
have  done  without,  if  it  had  been  necessary.  " 

For  two  years  young  Schurman  attended 
Prince  of  Wales  College.  He  lived  on  his 
scholarship  and  what  he  could  earn  by  keeping 
books  for  one  of  the  town  storekeepers,  spend- 
ing less  than  one  hundred  dollars  during  the 
entire  college  year.  Afterwards,  he  taught  a 
country  school  for  a  year,  and  then  went  to 
Acadia  College  in  Nova  Scotia  to  complete  his 
college  course. 

102 


Jacob  Gould  Schurman 

A  SPLENDID  COLLEGE  RECORD 

One  of  Mr.  Schurman's  fellow-students  in 
Acadia  says  that  he  was  remarkable  chiefly  for 
taking  every  prize  to  which  he  was  eligible.  In 
his  senior  year,  he  learned  of  a  scholarship  in 
the  University  of  London,  to  be  competed  for 
by  the  students  of  Canadian  colleges.  The 
scholarship  paid  five  hundred  dollars  a  year  for 
three  years.  The  young  student  in  Acadia  was 
ambitious  to  continue  his  studies  in  England, 
and  saw  in  this  offer  his  opportunity.  He  tried 
the  examination  and  won  the  prize. 

During  the  three  years  in  the  University  of 
London,  Mr.  Schurman  became  deeply  inter- 
ested in  the  study  of  philosophy,  and  decided 
that  he  had  found  in  it  his  life  work.  He  was 
eager  to  go  to  Germany  and  study  under  the 
great  leaders  of  philosophic  thought.  A  way 
was  opened  for  him,  through  the  offer  of  the 
Hibbard  Society  in  London;  the  prize  being  a 
traveling  fellowship  with  two  thousand  dollars 
a  year.  The  honor  men  of  the  great  English 
universities  like  Oxford  and  Cambridge  were 
among  the  competitors,  but  the  poor  country 
boy  from  Prince  Edward  Island  was  again  suc- 
cessful, greatly  to  the  surprise  of  the  others. 

103 


How  They  Succeeded 

At  the  end  of  his  course  in  Germany,  Mr. 
Schurman,  then  a  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  re- 
turned to  Acadia  College  to  become  a  teacher 
there.  Soon  afterwards,  he  was  called  to  Dal- 
housie  University,  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia. 
In  1886,  when  a  chair  of  philosophy  was  estab- 
lished at  Cornell,  President  White,  who  once 
met  the  brilliant  young  Canadian,  called  him  to 
that  position.  Two  years  later,  Dr.  Schurman 
became  Dean  of  the  Sage  School  of  Philosophy 
at  Cornell;  and,  in  1892,  when  the  President's 
chair  became  vacant,  he  was  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  great  university.  At  that  time,  he  was 
only  thirty-eight  years  of  age. 

President  Schurman  is  a  man  of  great  in- 
tellectual power,  and  an  inspiring  presence. 
Though  one  of  the  youngest  college  presidents 
in  the  country,  he  is  one  of  the  most  successful, 
and  under  his  leadership  Cornell  has  been  very 
prosperous.  He  is  deeply  interested  in  all  the 
affairs  of  young  men,  and  especially  those  who, 
as  he  did,  must  make  their  own  way  in  the 
world.  He  said,  the  other  day : — 

"  Though  I  am  no  longer  engaged  directly  in 
teaching,  I  should  think  my  work  a  failure  if 
I  did  not  feel  that  my  influence  on  the  young 
men  with  whom  I  come  in  contact  is  as  direct 
and  helpful  as  that  of  a  teacher  could  be.  " 

104 


VII 

The  Story  of  John  Wanamaker 

IN  a  plain  two-story  dwelling,  on  the  out- 
skirts of  Philadelphia,  the  future  mer- 
chant prince  was  born,  July  n,  1837. 
His  parents  were  Americans  in  humble  station ; 
his  mother  being  of  that  sturdy  Pennsylvania 
Dutch  stock  which  has  no  parallel  except  the 
Scotch  for  ruggedness.  His  father,  a  hard- 
working man,  owned  a  brickyard  in  the  close 
vicinity  of  the  family  residence.  Little  John 
earned  his  first  money,  seven  big  copper  cents, 
by  assisting  his  father.  He  was  too  small  to 
do  much,  but  turned  the  bricks  every  morning 
as  they  lay  drying  in  the  summer  sun.  As  he 
grew  older  and  stronger,  the  boy  was  given 
harder  tasks  around  the  brickyard. 

He  went  to  school  a  little,  not  much,  and  he 
assisted  his  mother  in  the  house  a  great  deal. 
His  father  died  when  John  was  fourteen,  and 
this  changed  the  whole  course  of  his  life.  He 

105 


How  They  Succeeded 

abandoned  the  brickyard  and  secured  a  place 
in  a  bookstore  owned  by  Barclay  Lippincott, 
on  Market  Street,  Philadelphia,  at  a  salary  of 
one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  a  week. 

It  was  a  four-mile  walk  from  his  home  to  his 
place  of  business.  Cheerfully  he  trudged  this 
distance  morning  and  night;  purchasing  an 
apple  or  a  roll  each  noon  for  luncheon,  and 
giving  his  mother  all  the  money  that  he  saved. 
He  used  to  deny  himself  every  comfort,  and 
the  only  other  money  that  he  ever  spent  was  on 
books  for  his  mother.  This  seems  to  have  been 
the  boy's  chief  source  of  pleasure  at  that  period. 
Even  to-day,  he  says  of  his  mother :  "  Her 
smile  was  a  bit  of  heaven,  and  it  never  faded 
out  of  her  face  till  her  dying  day.  "  Mrs. 
Wanamaker  lived  to  see  her  son  famous  and 
wealthy. 

HIS   CAPITAL  AT   FOURTEEN 

John  Wanamaker,  the  boy,  had  no  single 
thing  in  all  his  surroundings  to  give  him  an 
advantage  over  any  one  of  hundreds  of  other 
boys  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  Indeed,  there 
were  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  other  boys  of 
his  own  age  for  whom  anyone  would  have  felt 
safe  in  prophesying  a  more  notable  career.  His 

1 06 


John  Wanamaker 

capital  was  not  in  money.  Very  few  boys  in 
all  that  great  city  had  less  money  than  John 
Wanamaker,  and  comparatively  few  families 
of  average  position  but  were  better  off  in  the 
way  of  worldly  goods.  John  Wanamaker's 
capital,  that  stood  him  in  such  good  stead  in 
after  life,  comprised  good  health,  good  habits, 
a  clean  mind,  thrift  in  money  matters,  and  tire- 
less devotion  to  whatever  he  thought  to  be  duty. 

People  who  were  well  acquainted  with  John 
Wanamaker  when  he  was  a  book  publisher's 
boy,  say  that  he  was  exceptionally  promising  as 
a  boy;  that  he  was  studious  as  well  as  attentive 
to  business.  He  did  not  take  kindly  to  rough 
play,  or  do  much  playing  of  any  kind.  He  was 
earnest  in  his  work,  unusually  earnest  for  a 
boy.  And  he  was  saving  of  his  money. 

When,  a  little  later,  he  went  to  a  Market 
street  clothing  house  and  asked  for  a  place,  he 
had  no  difficulty  in  getting  it,  nor  had  he  any 
trouble  in  holding  it,  and  here  he  could  earn 
twenty-five  cents  a  week  more  wages. 

TOWER  HALL  CLOTHING  STORE 

Men  who  worked  with  him  in  the  Tower 
Hall  Clothing  Store  say  that  he  was  always 
bright,  willing,  accommodating,  and  very 

107 


How  They  Succeeded 

seldom  out  of  temper.  His  effort  was  to  be 
first  at  the  store  in  the  morning,  and  he  was 
very  likely  to  be  one  of  the  last,  if  not  the  last, 
at  the  store  in  the  evening.  If  there  was  an 
errand,  he  was  always  prompt  and  glad  to  do 
it.  And  so  the  store  people  liked  him,  and  the 
proprietor  liked  him,  and,  when  he  began  to 
sell  clothing,  the  customers  liked  him.  He  was 
considerate  of  their  interests.  He  did  not  try 
to  force  undesirable  goods  upon  them.  He 
treated  them  so  that  when  they  came  again  they 
would  be  apt  to  ask,  "  Where  is  John?  " 

HIS   AMBITION    AND   POWER  AS   AN   ORGANIZER 
AT  SIXTEEN 

Colonel  Bennett,  the  proprietor  of  Tower 
Hall,  said  of  him  at  this  time : — 

"  John  was  certainly  the  most  ambitious  boy 
I  ever  saw.  I  used  to  take  him  to  lunch  with 
me,  and  he  used  to  tell  me  how  he  was  going  to 
be  a  great  merchant. 

"  He  was  very  much  interested  in  the  temper- 
ance cause;  and  had  not  been  with  me  long  be- 
fore he  persuaded  most  of  the  employees  in 
the  store  to  join  the  temperance  society  to 
which  he  belonged.  He  was  always  organiz- 
ing something.  He  seemed  to  be  a  natural- 

108 


John  Wanamaker 

born  organizer.     This  faculty  is    largely    ac- 
countable for  his  great  success  in  after  life.  " 

THE  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

Young  Wanamaker's  religious  principles 
were  always  at  the  forefront  in  whatever  he 
did.  His  interest  in  Sunday  School  work,  and 
his  skill  as  an  organizer  became  well  known. 
And  so  earnestly  did  he  engage  in  the  work  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  that 
he  was  appointed  the  first  salaried  secretary  of 
the  Philadelphia  branch,  at  one  thousand 
dollars  a  year.  Never  since  has  a  secretary  en- 
rolled so  many  members  in  the  same  space  of 
time.  He  passed  seven  years  in  this  arduous 
work. 

OAK  HALL 

He  saved  his  money;  and,  at  twenty-four, 
formed  a  partnership  with  his  brother-in-law 
Nathan  Brown,  and  opened  Oak  Hall  Clothing 
store,  in  April,  1861.  Their  united  capital  was 
only  $3,500;  yet  Wanamaker's  capital  of  popu- 
lar good-will  was  very  great.  He  was  already 
a  great  power  in  the  city.  I  can  never  forget 
the  impression  made  upon  my  mind,  after  he 
had  been  in  business  but  a  few  months,  when  I 

109 


How  They  Succeeded 

visited  his  Bethany  Sunday  School,  established 
in  one  of  the  most  unpromising  sections  of  the 
city,  which  had  become  already  a  factor  for 
good,  with  one  of  the  largest  enrollments  in 
the  world.  And  he  was  foremost  in  every  form 
of  philanthropic  work. 

It  was  because  of  his  great  capacity  to  do 
business  that  Wanamaker  had  been  able  to 
"  boom  "  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion work.  He  knew  how  to  do  it.  And  he 
could  "  boom  "  a  Sunday  School,  or  anything 
else  that  he  took  hold  of.  He  had 

A  HEAD  BUILT  FOR  BUSINESS, 

whatever  the  business  might  be.  And  as  for 
Oak  Hall,  he  knew  just  what  to  do  with  it. 

The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  multiply  his 
working  capital  by  getting  the  best  help  obtain- 
able for  running  the  store. 

At  the  very  outset,  John  Wanamaker  did 
what  almost  any  other  business  man  would 
have  stood  aghast  at.  He  chose  the  best  man 
he  knew  as  a  salesman  in  the  clothing  business 
in  Philadelphia, — the  man  of  the  most  winning 
personality  who  could  attract  trade, — and 
agreed  to  pay  him  $1,350  for  a  year, — one- 
third  of  the  entire  capital  of  the  new  concern. 

no 


John  Wanamaker 

It  has  been  a  prime  principle  with  this  mer- 
chant prince  not  only  to  deal  fairly  with  his 
employees,  but  to  make  it  an  object  for  them 
to  earn  money  for  him  and  to  stand  by  him. 
Capacity  has  been  the  first  demand.  He  en- 
gaged the  very  best  men  to  be  had.  There  are 
to-day  dozens  of  men  in  his  employ  who  re- 
ceive larger  salaries  than  are  paid  to  cabinet 
ministers.  All  the  employees  of  the  Thirteenth 
Street  store,  which  he  occupied  in  1877,  par- 
ticipate in  a  yearly  division  of  profits.  Their 
share  at  the  end  of  the  first  year  amounted  to 
$109,439.68. 

HIS  RELATION  TO  CUSTOMERS 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  trade  of  the 
new  store  came  from  people  in  the  country  dis- 
tricts. Mr.  Wanamaker  had  a  way  of  getting 
close  to  them  and  gaining  their  good  will.  He 
understood  human  nature.  He  put  his  customer 
at  ease.  He  showed  interest  in  the  things  that 
interested  the  farmer.  An  old  employee  of  the 
firm  says :  "  John  used  to  put  a  lot  of  chestnuts 
in  his  pocket  along  in  the  fall  and  winter,  and, 
when  he  had  one  of  these  countrymen  in  tow, 
he'd  slip  a  few  of  the  nuts  into  the  visitor's 

ill 


How  They  Succeeded 

hand  and  both  would  go  munching  about  the 
store.  " 

Wanamaker  was  the  first  to  introduce  the 
"  one-price  system  "  into  the  clothing  trade.  It 
was  the  universal  rule  in  those  days,  in  the 
clothing  trade,  not  to  mark  the  prices  plainly 
on  the  goods  that  were  for  sale.  Within  rather 
liberal  bounds,  the  salesman  got  what  he  could 
from  the  customer.  Mr.  Wanamaker,  after  a 
time,  instituted  at  Oak  Hall  the  plan  of  "  but 
one  price  and  that  plainly  marked.  "  In  doing 
this  he  followed  the  cue  of  Stewart,  who  was 
the  first  merchant  in  the  country  to  introduce  it 
into  the  dry-goods  business. 

The  great  Wanamaker  store  of  1877  went 
much  further: — 

He  announced  that  those  who  bought  goods 
of  him  were  to  be  satisfied  with  what  they 
bought,  or  have  their  money  back. 

To  the  old  mercantile  houses  of  the  city,  this 
seemed  like  committing  business  suicide. 

It  was,  also,  unheard-of  that  special  effort 
should  be  made  to  add  to  the  comfort  of  visit- 
ors; to  make  them  welcome  whether  they  cared 
to  buy  or  not ;  to  induce  them  to  look  upon  the 
store  as  a  meeting-place,  a  rendezvous,  a  rest- 
ing-place,— a  sort  of  city  home,  almost. 

112 


John  Wanamaker 

THE  MERCHANT'S  ORGANIZING  FACULTY 

was  so  great  that  General  Grant  once  remarked 
to  George  W.  Childs  that  Wanamaker  would 
have  been  a  great  general  if  his  lot  had  been 
that  of  army  service. 

Wanamaker  used  to  buy  goods  of  Stewart, 
and  the  New  York  merchant  remarked  to  a 
friend :  "If  young  Wanamaker  lives,  he  will 
be  a  greater  merchant  than  I  ever  was." 

Sometime  in  recent  years,  since  Wanamaker 
bought  the  Stewart  store,  he  said  to  Frank  G. 
Carpenter : — 

"  A.  T.  Stewart  was  a  genius.  I  have  been 
surprised  again  and  again  as  I  have  gone 
through  the  Broadway  and  Tenth  Street  build- 
ing, to  find  what  a  knowledge  he  had  of  the 
needs  of  a  mercantile  establishment.  Mr.  Stew- 
art put  up  a  building  which  is  to-day,  I  believe, 
better  arranged  than  any  of  the  modern  struc- 
tures. He  seemed  to  know  just  what  was 
needed. 

"  I  met  him  often  when  I  was  a  young  man. 
I  have  reason  to  think  that  he  took  a  liking  to 
me.  One  day,  I  remember,  I  was  in  his  woolen 
department  buying  some  stuffs  for  my  store 
here,  when  he  came  up  to  me  and  asked  if  I 

"3 


How  They  Succeeded 

would  be  in  the  store  for  fifteen  minutes  longer. 
I  replied  that  I  would.  At  the  end  of  fifteen 
minutes  he  returned  and  handed  me  a  slip  of 
paper,  saying:— 

" '  Young  man,  I  understand  that  you  have 
a  mission  school  in  Philadelphia;  use  that  for 
it/ 

"  Before  I  could  reply  he  had  left.  I  looked 
down  at  the  slip  of  paper.  It  was  a  check  for 
one  thousand  dollars.  " 

Wanamaker  early  showed  himself  the  peer 
of  the  greatest  merchants.  He  created  the 
combination  or  department  store.  He  lifted 
the  retail  clothing  business  to  a  higher  plane 
than  it  had  ever  before  reached.  In  ten  years 
from  the  time  he  began  to  do  business  for  him- 
self, he  had  absorbed  the  space  of  forty-five 
other  tenants  and  become  the  leading  merchant 
of  his  native  city.  Four  years  later,  he  had 
purchased,  for  $450,000,  the  freight  depot  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  covering  the  entire 
square  where  his  present  great  store  is  located. 
The  firm  name  became  simply  John  Wana- 
maker. His  lieutenants  and  business  partners 
therein  are  his  son  Thomas  B.  Wanamaker, 
and  Robert  C.  Ogden.  Their  two  Philadelphia 
establishments  alone  do  a  business  of  between 

114 


John  Wanamaker 

$30,000,000  and  $40,000,000  annually.  Mr. 
Wanamaker's  private  fortune  is  one  of  the  most 
substantial  in  America. 

ATTENTION  TO  DETAILS 

Yet  in  all  these  years  he  has  been  early  and 
late  at  the  store,  as  he  was  when  a  boy.  He 
has  always  seen  to  it  that  customers  have  prompt 
and  careful  attention.  He  early  made  the  rule 
that  if  a  sale  was  missed,  a  written  reason  must 
be  rendered  by  the  salesman.  There  was  no 
hap-hazard  business  in  that  store, — nothing  of 
the  happy-go-lucky  style.  Each  man  must  be 
alert,  wide-awake,  attentive,  or  there  was  no 
place  for  him  at  Oak  Hall. 

THE  MOST  RIGID  ECONOMY 

has  been  always  a  part  of  the  system.  It  is  told 
of  him  that,  in  the  earlier  days  of  Oak  Hall, 
he  used  to  gather  up  the  short  pieces  of  string 
that  came  in  on  parcels,  make  them  into  a 
bunch,  and  see  that  they  were  used  when 
bundles  were  to  be  tied.  He  also  had  a  habit 
of  smoothing  out  old  newspapers,  and  seeing 
that  they  were  used  as  wrappers  for  such  things 
as  did  not  require  a  better  grade  of  paper. 
The  story  has  been  often  related  of  the  first 

"5 


How  They  Succeeded 

day's  business  at  the  original  store  in  '61,  when 
Wanamaker  delivered  the  sales  by  wheeling  a 
push-cart. 

ADVERTISING 

The  first  day's  business  made  a  cash  profit 
of  thirty-eight  dollars ;  and  the  whole  sum  was 
invested  in  one  advertisement  in  the  next  day's 
'*"  Inquirer." 

His  advertising  methods  were  unique;  he 
paid  for  the  best  talent  he  could  get  in  this  line. 

Philadelphia  woke  one  morning  to  find  "  W. 
&  B.  "  in  the  form  of  six-inch  square  posters 
stuck  up  all  over  the  town.  There  was  not  an- 
other letter,  no  hint,  just  "  W.  &  B.  "  Such 
things  are  common  enough  now,  but  then  the 
whole  city  was  soon  talking  and  wondering 
what  this  sign  meant.  After  a  few  days,  a 
second  poster  modestly  stated  that  Wanamaker 
&  Brown  had  begun  to  sell  clothing  at  Oak 
Hall.  Before  long  there  were  great  signs,  each 
100  feet  in  length,  painted  on  special  fences 
built  in  a  dozen  places  about  the  city,  particu- 
larly near  the  railroad  stations.  These  told  of 
the  new  firm  and  were  the  first  of  a  class  that 
is  now  seen  all  over  the  country.  Afterwards 

116 


John  Wanamaker 

BALLOONS 

more  than  twenty  feet  high  were  sent  up,  and 
a  suit  of  clothes  was  given  to  each  person  who 
brought  one  of  them  back.  Whole  counties 
were  stirred  up  by  the  balloons.  It  was  grand 
advertising,  imitated  since  by  all  sorts  of 
people.  When  the  balloon  idea  struck  the  Oak 
Hall  management  it  was  quickly  found  that  the 
only  way  to  get  these  air-ships  was  to  make 
them,  and  so,  on  the  roof  of  the  store,  the  cotton 
cloth  was  cut  and  oiled  and  put  together. 
Being  well  built,  and  tied  very  tightly  at  the 
neck,  they  made  long  flights  and  some  of  them 
were  used  over  and  over  again.  In  one  in- 
stance, a  balloon  remained  for  more  than  six 
months  in  a  cranberry  swamp,  and  when  the 
great  bag  was  discovered,  slowly  swaying  in 
the  breeze,  among  the  bushes,  the  frightened 
Jerseymen  thought  they  had  come  upon  an 
elephant,  or,  maybe,  a  survivor  of  the  masto- 
dons. This  made  more  advertising  of  the  very 
best  kind  for  the  clothing  store, — the  kind  that 
excites  interested,  complimentary  talk. 

SEIZING  OPPORTUNITIES 

Genius  consists  in  taking  advantage  of  op- 

117 


How  They  Succeeded 

portunities  quite  as  much  as  in  making  them. 
Here  was  a  young  man  doing  things  in  an  ad- 
vertising way  regardless  of  the  custom  of  the 
business  world,  and  with  a  wonderful  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature.  He  took  common-sense 
advantage  of  opportunities  that  were  open  to 
everybody. 

Soon  after  the  balloon  experience,  tally-ho 
coaching  began  to  be  a  Philadelphia  fad  of  the 
very  exclusives.  Immediately  afterwards  a 
crack  coach  was  secured,  and  six  large  and 
spirited  horses  were  used  instead  of  four,  and 
Oak  Hall  employees,  dressed  in  the  style  of  the 
most  ultra  coaching  set,  traversed  the  country 
in  every  direction,  scattering  advertising  matter 
to  the  music  of  the  horn.  Sometimes  they 
would  be  a  week  on  a  trip.  No  wonder  Oak 
Hall  flourished.  It  was  kept  in  the  very  front 
of  the  procession  all  the  time. 

A  little  later,  in  the  yachting  season,  the 
whole  town  was  attracted  and  amused  by  pro- 
cessions and  scatterings  of  men,  each  wearing 
a  wire  body  frame  that  supported  a  thin  staff 
from  which  waved  a  wooden  burgee,  or 
pointed  flag  reminding  them  of  Oak  Hall. 
Nearly  two  hundred  of  these  prototypes  of  the 
"  Sandwich  man  "  were  often  out  at  one  time. 

118 


John  V/anamaker 

But  it  was  not  only  in  the  quick  catching  of 
a  novel  advertising  thought  that  the  new  house 
was  making  history;  in  newspaper  advertising, 
it  was  even  urther  in  advance.  The  statements 
of  store  nev  s  were  crisp  and  unhackneyed,  and 
the  first  ar  istic  illustrations  ever  put  into  ad- 
vertisemen-8  were  used  there.  So  high  was 
the  grade  jf  this  picture-work  that  art  schools 
regularly  clipped  the  illustrations  as  models; 
and  the  world-famous  Shakespearian  scholar, 
Dr.  Horace  Howard  Furness,  treasured  the 
original  sketches  of  "  The  Seven  Ages "  as 
among  the  most  interesting  in  his  unique  collec- 
tion. 

PUSH    AND    PERSISTENCE 

"  The  chief  reason,  "  said  Mr.  Wanamaker 
upon  one  occasion,  "  that  everybody  is  not  suc- 
cessful is  the  fact  that  they  have  not  enough 
persistency.  I  always  advise  young  men  who 
write  me  on  the  subject  to  do  one  thing  well, 
throwing  all  their  energies  into  it." 

To  his  employees  he  once  said : — "  We  are 
very  foolish  people  if  we  shut  our  ears  and  eyes 
to  what  other  people  are  doing.  I  often  pick 
up  things  from  strangers.  As  you  go  along, 
pick  up  suggestions  here  and  there,  jot  them 

119 


How  They  Succeeded 

down  and  send  them  along.  Even  writing  them 
down  helps  to  concentrate  your  mind  on  that 
part  of  the  work.  You  need  not  be  afraid  of 
overstepping  the  mark.  The  more  we  push 
each  other,  the  better.  " 

"TO    WHAT,    MR.    WANAMAKER,    DO     YOU     AT- 
TRIBUTE YOUR  GREAT  SUCCESS?" 

In  reply  to  this  question  when  asked,  he  re- 
plied : — "  To  thinking,  toiling,  trying,  and 
trusting  in  God.  " 

A  serene  confidence  in  a  guiding  power  has 
always  been  one  of  the  Wanamaker  characteris- 
tics. He  ;s  always  calm.  Under  the  greatest 
stress  he  never  loses  his  head. 

In  one  physical  particular,  Mr.  Wanamaker 
is  very  remarkable.  He  can  work  continually 
for  a  long  time  without  sleep  and  without  evi- 
dence of  strain,  and  make  up  for  it  by  a  good 
rest  afterwards. 

When  upon  one  occasion  he  was  asked  to 
name  the  essentials  of  success,  he  replied, 
curtly : — "  I  might  write  a  volume  trying  to 
tell  you  how  to  succeed.  One  way  is  to  not  be 
above  taking  a  hint  from  a  master.  I  don't 
care  to  tell  why  I  succeeded;  because  I  object 
to  talking  about  myself, — it  isn't  modest.  " 

1 2O 


John  Wanamaker 

A  feature  of  his  make-up  that  has  contrib- 
uted largely  to  his  success  is  his  ability  to  con- 
centrate his  thoughts.  No  matter  how  trivial 
the  subject  brought  before  him,  he  takes  it  up 
with  the  appearance  of  one  who  has  nothing 
else  on  his  mind. 

HK  VIEWS  ON  BUSINESS 

When  asked  whether  the  small  tradesmen 
has  any  "  show  "  to-day  against  the  great  de- 
partment stores,  he  said : — 

"All  of  the  great  stores  were  small  at  one  time. 
Small  stores  will  keep  on  developing  into  big 
ones.  You  wouldn't  expect  a  man  to  put  an 
iron  band  about  his  business  in  order  to  pre- 
vent expansion,  would  you?  There  are,  ac- 
cording to  statistics,  a  greater  number  of  pros- 
perous small  stores  in  the  city  than  ever  before. 
What  better  proof  do  you  want? 

"  The  department  store  is  a  natural  product, 
evolved  from  conditions  that  exist  as  a  result 
of  fixed  trade  laws.  Executive  capacity,  com- 
bined with  command  of  capital,  finds  oppor- 
tunity in  these  conditions,  which  are  harmoni- 
ous with  the  irresistible  determination  of  the 
producer  to  meet  the  consumer  directly,  and 
of  merchandise  to  find  distribution  along  the 

121 


How  They  Succeeded 

lines  of  least  resistance.  Reduced  prices  stimu- 
late consumption,  and  increase  employment; 
and  it  is  sound  opinion  that  the  increased  em- 
ployment created  by  the  department  stores  goes 
to  women  without  curtailing  that  of  men.  In 
general  it  may  be  stated  that  large  retail  stores 
have  shortened  the  hours  of  labor;  and  by 
systematic  discipline  have  made  it  lighter.  The 
small  store  is  harder  upon  the  sales-person  and 
clerk.  The  effects  upon  the  character  and 
capacity  of  the  employees  are  good.  A  well 
ordered,  modern  retail  store  is  the  means  of 
education  in  spelling,  writing,  English  lan- 
guage, system  and  method.  Thus  it  becomes 
to  the  ambitious  and  serious  employees,  in  a 
small  way,  a  university,  in  which  character  is 
broadened  by  intelligent  instruction  practically 
applied.  " 

When  asked  if  a  man  with  means  but  no 
experience  would  be  safe  in  embarking  in  a 
mercantile  business,  he  replied  quickly: — 

"  A  man  can't  drive  a  horse  who  has  never 
seen  one.  No;  a  man  must  have  training,  must 
know  how  to  buy  and  sell;  only  experience 
teaches  that.  " 

I  have  heard  people  marvel  at  the  unbroken 
upward  course  of  Mr.  Wanamaker's  career, 

122 


John  Wanamaker 

and  lament  that  they  so  often  make  mistakes. 
But  hear  him : — 

"  Who  does  not  make  mistakes  ?  Why,  if  I 
were  to  think  only  of  the  mistakes  I  have  made, 
I  should  be  miserable  indeed.  " 

I  have  heard  it  said  a  hundred  times  that  Mr. 
Wanamaker  started  when  success  was  easy. 
Here  is  what  he  says  himself  about  it : — 

"  I  think  I  could  succeed  as  well  now  as  in  the 
past.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  conditions  of  to- 
day are  even  more  favorable  to  success  than 
when  I  was  a  boy.  There  are  better  facilities 
for  doing  business,  and  more  business  to  be 
done.  Information  in  the  shape  of  books  and 
newspapers  is  now  in  the  reach  of  all,  and  the 
young  man  has  two  opportunities  where  he 
formerly  had  one. 

"  We  are  much  more  afraid  of  combinations 
of  capital  than  we  have  any  reason  for  being. 
Competition  regulates  everything  of  that  kind. 
No  organization  can  make  immense  profits  for 
any  length  of  time  without  its  field  soon  swarm- 
ing with  competitors.  It  requires  brain  and 
muscle  to  manage  any  kind  of  business,  and 
the  same  elements  which  have  produced  busi- 
ness success  in  the  past  will  produce  it  now,  and 
will  always  produce  it." 

123 


How  They  Succeeded 

PUBLIC  SERVICE 

With  the  exception  of  his  term  of  service  as 
postmaster-general  of  the  United  States  in 
President  Harrison's  cabinet — a  service  which 
was  marked  by  great  executive  ability  and  the 
institution  of  many  reforms, — Mr.  Wanamaker 
has  devoted  his  attention  almost  entirely  to  his 
business  and  his  church  work. 

Yet  as  a  citizen  he  has  always  taken  a  most 
positive  course  in  opposition  to  the  evils  that 
threaten  society.  He  has  been  forever 
prompted  by  his  religious  convictions  to  pursue 
vice  either  in  the  "  dive,  "  or  in  municipal,  state 
or  national  life.  He  hates  a  barroom,  but  he 
hates  a  treasury  looter  far  more  fiercely.  His 
idea  of  Christian  duty  was  evidently  derived 
from  the  scene  wherein  the  Master  took  a 
scourge  and  drove  the  corrupt  traders  and 
office-holders  out  of  the  temple.  It  is  vigorous, 
it  is  militant;  but  it  makes  enemies.  Conse- 
quently, Mr.  Wanamaker  is  not  without  per- 
sistent maligners;  getting  himself  well  hated  by 
the  worst  men  in  the  community. 

INVEST  IN  YOURSELF 

Mr.  Wanamaker's  views  of  what  life  is  for 

124 


John  Wanamaker 

are  well  expressed  in  the  following  excerpt 
from  one  of  his  addresses  to  young  men. 

In  the  course  of  his  address,  he  related  that 
he  was  once  called  upon  to  invest  in 
an  expedition  to  recover  Spanish  mahogany 
and  doubloons  from  the  Spanish  Main, 
which,  for  half  a  century,  had  lain  under 
the  rolling  waves  in  sunken  frigates.  "  But, 
young  men,"  he  continued,  "  I  know  of  bet- 
ter expeditions  than  this  right  at  home,  deep 
down  under  the  sea  of  neglect  and  ignorance 
and  discouragement.  Near  your  own  feet  lie 
treasures  untold,  and  you  can  have  them  all 
for  your  own  by  earnest  watch  and  faithful 
study  and  proper  care. 

"  Let  us  not  be  content  to  mine  the  most  coal, 
make  the  largest  locomotives  and  weave  the 
largest  quantities  of  carpets;  but,  amid  the 
sounds  of  the  pick,  the  blows  of  the  hammer, 
the  rattle  of  the  looms,  and  the  roar  of  the  ma- 
chinery, take  care  that  the  immortal  mecha- 
nism of  God's  own  hand, — the  mind, — is  still 
full-trained  for  the  highest  and  noblest  service. 

"  This  is  the  most  enduring  kind  of  property 
to  acquire,  a  property  of  soul  which  no  disaster 
can  wreck  or  ruin.  Whatever  may  be  the 
changes  that  shall  sweep  over  our  fair  land,  no 

125 


How  They  Succeeded 

power  can  ever  take  away  from  you  your  in- 
vestments in  knowledge." 

AT  HOME 

Like  all  other  magnetic  and  forceful  men, 
Mr.  Wanamaker  is  striking  in  appearance, 
strong  rather  than  handsome.  He  has  a  full, 
round  head,  a  broad  forehead,  a  strong  nose, 
heavy-lidded  eyes  that  flash  with  energy,  heavy 
jaws  that  denote  strength  of  will,  and  tightly 
closed  lips  that  just  droop  at  the  corners,  giving 
an  ever-present  touch  of  sedateness.  His  face 
is  as  smooth  as  a  boy's  and  as  mobile  as  an 
actor's;  and,  when  lighted  up  in  discussion,  it 
beams  with  expression.  He  wears  a  hat  that 
is  only  six  and  seven-eighths  in  size,  but  is  al- 
most completely  circular  in  form.  He  is  al- 
most six  feet  tall  and  finely  built,  and  all  his 
motions  have  in  them  the  springiness  of  health. 
Nobody  ever  saw  him  dressed  in  any  other 
color  than  black,  with  a  black  necktie  under 
a  "  turn-down  "  collar.  But  he  always  looks 
as  trim  as  if  he  were  just  out  of  the  hands  of 
both  tailor  and  barber. 

It  is  his  delight  to  pass  much  time  at  his 
country  seat  in  Jenkintown.  He  is  fond  of  the 
field  and  the  river,  the  trees  and  flowers,  and 

126 


John  Wanamaker 

all  the  growths  with  which  God  has  beautified 
the  earth.  His  house  is  a  home-like  structure, 
with  wide  piazzas,  standing  upon  the  crest  of  a 
hill  in  the  midst  of  a  noble  lawn.  A  big  rosery 
and  orchid  house  stand  near  by.  The  before- 
breakfast  ramble  of  the  proprietor  is  finished 
in  the  flower  garden,  and  every  guest  is  laden 
with  floral  trophies. 

Mr.  Wanamaker  was  married,  while  he  was 
the  Secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  to  one  whom 
he  met  at  a  church  service,  and  who  has  been  in 
full  sympathy  with  his  religious  activities.  He 
has  been  for  forty  years  superintendent  of  the 
Bethany  Sunday  School  in  Philadelphia.  He 
began  with  two  teachers  and  twenty-seven 
pupils;  and  at  the  recent  anniversary  reported 
a  school  of  4,500,  a  church  with  3, 700  members, 
500  having  been  added  during  the  past  year, 
several  branches,  and  scores  of  department  or- 
ganizations. 

John  Wanamaker  says  to-day  that  his  busi- 
ness success  is  due  to  his  religious  training. 
He  is  first  of  all  a  Christian. 

The  lesson  of  such  a  life  should  be  precious 
to  every  young  man.  It  teaches  the  value  of 
untiring  effort,  of  economy,  of  common  sense 
applied  to  common  business.  I  know  of  no 

127 


How  They  Succeeded 

career  in  this  country  that  offers  more  encour- 
agement to  young  people.  It  shows  what  per- 
sistency can  do;  it  shows  what  intelligent,  well- 
directed,  tireless  effort  can  do;  and  it  proves 
that  a  man  may  devote  himself  to  helping 
others,  to  the  Sunday  School,  to  the  Church,  to 
broad  philanthropy,  and  still  be  wonderfully 
successful  in  a  business  way. 


128 


•      vni  /  |-;j:;".      :;;:;; 

Giving  up  Five  Thousand  Dol- 
lars a  Year  to  Become  a 
Sculptor 

"~      —  Y    life?"    queried    F.    Wellington 


M 


Ruckstuhl,  one  of  the  foremost 
sculptors  of  America,  as  we  sat  in 
his  studio  looking  up  at  his  huge  figure  of 
"Force."  "When  did  I  begin  to  sculpture? 
As  a  child  I  was  forever  whittling,  but  I  did 
not  have  dreams  then  of  becoming  a  sculptor. 
It  was  not  till  I  was  thirty-two  years  of  age. 
And  love, — disappointment  in  my  first  love 
played  a  prominent  part." 

"  But  as  a  boy,  Mr.  Ruckstuhl?  " 

"  I  was  a  poet.  Every  sculptor  or  artist  is 
necessarily  a  poet.  I  was  always  reaching  out 
and  seeking  the  beautiful.  My  father  was  a 
foreman  in  a  St.  Louis  machine  shop.  He 
came  to  this  country  in  a  sailing  ship  from 

129 


How  They  Succeeded 

Alsace,  by  way  of  the  Gulf  to  St.  Louis,  when 
I  was  but  six  years  old.  He  was  a  very  pious 
man  and  a  deacon  in  a  church.  One  time, 
Moody  and  Sankey  came  to  town,  and  my 
father  made  me  attend  the  meetings;  I  think 
he  hoped  that  I  would  become  a  minister.  Be- 
tween the  ages  of  fourteen  and  nineteen,  I 
worked  in  a  photographic  supply  store;  wrote 
one  hundred  poems,  and  read  incessantly.  I 
enlarged  a  view  of  the  statue  of  Nelson  in 
Trafalgar  Square,  London,  into  a  '  plaster 
sketch/  ten  times  as  large  as  the  picture,  but 
still  I  did  not  know  my  path.  I  began  the  study 
of  philosophy,  and  kept  up  my  reading  for  ten 
years.  My  friends  thought  I  would  become  a 
literary  man.  I  wrote  for  the  papers,  and  be- 
longed to  a  prominent  literary  club.  I  tried  to 
analyze  myself.  '  I  am  a  man, '  I  said,  '  but 
what  am  I  good  for?  What  am  I  to  make  of 
this  life  ? '  I  drifted  from  one  position  to  an- 
other. Every  one  was  sorry  to  part  with  my 
services,  for  I  always  did  my  duties  as  well  as 
they  could  be  done.  When  I  was  twenty-five 
years  of  age,  the  girl  to  whom  I  was  attached 
was  forced  by  her  mother  to  marry  a  wealthy 
man.  She  died  a  year  afterwards;  and  I 
'  pulled  up  stakes, '  and  started  on  a  haphazard, 

130 


F.  Wellington  Ruckstuhl 

reckless  career.  I  went  to  Colorado,  drifted 
into  Arizona,  prospected,  mined,  and  worked 
on  a  ranch.  I  went  to  California,  and  at  one 
time  thought  of  shipping  for  China.  My  ex- 
periences would  fill  a  book.  Again  I  reached 
St.  Louis.  For  a  year,  I  could  not  find  a  thing 
to  do,  and  became  desperate.  " 

"  And  you  had  done  nothing  at  art  so  f ar  ?  " 
I  asked. 

"  At  that  time,  I  saw  a  clay  sketch.  I  said 
to  myself,  '  I  can  do  as  well  as  that, '  and  I 
copied  it.  My  second  sketch  admitted  me  to 
the  St.  Louis  Sketch  Club.  I  told  my  friends 
that  I  would  be  a  sculptor.  They  laughed 
and  ridiculed  me.  I  had  secured  a  position 
in  a  store,  and  at  odd  times  worked  at 
what  I  had  always  loved,  but  had  only 
half  realized  it.  Notices  appeared  in  the 
papers  about  me,  for  I  was  popular  in  the 
community.  I  entered  the  competition  for  a 
statue  of  General  Frank  R.  Blair.  I  received 
the  first  prize,  but  when  the  committee  discov- 
ered that  I  was  only  a  bill  clerk  in  a  store,  they 
argued  that  I  was  not  competent  to  carry  out 
the  work;  although  I  was  given  the  first  prize 
model  and  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  ac- 
companying it.  " 


How  They  Succeeded 

"But  that  inspired  you?" 

*  Yes,  but  my  father  and  mother  put  every 
obstacle  in  the  way  possible.  I  was  driven 
from  room  to  room.  I  was  not  even  allowed  to 
work  in  the  attic. "  Here  Mr.  Ruckstuhl 
laughed.  "  You  see  what  genius  has  to  con- 
tend with.  I  was  advanced  in  position  in  the 
store,  till  I  became  assistant  manager,  at  two 
thousand  dollars  a  year.  When  I  told  the 
proprietor  that  I  had  decided  to  be  a  sculptor, 
he  gazed  at  me  in  blank  astonishment.  '  A 
sculptor  ?  '  he  queried,  incredulously,  and  made 
a  few  very  discouraging  remarks,  emphasized 
with  dashes.  '  Why,  young  man,  are  you 
going  to  throw  up  the  chance  of  a  lifetime?  I 
will  give  you  five  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and 
promote  you  to  be  manager  if  you  will  remain 
with  me. ' 

"  But  I  had  found  my  life's  work,  "  said  Mr. 
Ruckstuhl,  turning  to  me.  "I  knew  it  would 
be  a  struggle  through  poverty,  till  I  attained 
fame.  But  I  was  confident  in  myself,  which  is 
half  of  the  battle.  " 

"And  you  went  abroad?" 

"  Yes,  with  but  two  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars,"  he  replied.  "  I  traveled  through 
Europe  for  five  months  and  visited  the  French 

132 


F.  Wellington  Ruckstuhl 

Salon.  I  said  to  myself,  '  I  can  do  that,  and 
that;  '  and  my  confidence  grew.  But  there  was 
some  work  that  completely  '  beat '  me.  I  re- 
turned to  America  penniless,  but  with  a  greater 
insight  into  art.  I  determined  that  I  would  re- 
trace my  steps  to  Paris,  and  study  there  for 
three  years,  and  thought  that  would  be  suf- 
ficient to  fully  develop  me.  My  family  and 
friends  laughed  me  to  scorn,  and  I  was  dis- 
couraged by  everyone.  In  four  months,  in  St. 
Louis,  I  secured  seven  orders  for  busts,  at  two 
hundred  dollars  each,  to  be  done  after  my  re- 
turn from  France.  That  shows  that  some  per- 
sons had  confidence  in  me  and  in  my  talent.  , 

"  O,  the  student  life  in  Paris !  How  I  look 
back  with  pleasure  upon  those  struggling,  yet 
happy  days!  In  two  months,  I  started  on  my 
female  figure  of  '  Evening,  '  in  the  nude,  that 
is  now  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art.  I 
finished  it  in  nine  months,  and  positively  sweat 
blood  in  my  work.  I  sent  it  to  the  Salon,  and 
went  to  Italy.  When  I  returned  to  Paris,  I 
saw  my  name  in  the  paper  with  honorable  men- 
tion. I  suppose  you  can  realize  my  feelings;  I 
experienced  the  first  flush  of  victory.  I  brought 
it  to  America,  and  exposed  it  in  St.  Louis. 
Strange  to  say,  I  rose  in  the  estimation  of  even 

133 


How  They  Succeeded 

my  family.  My  father  actually  congratulated 
me.  A  wealthy  man  in  St.  Louis  gave  me 
three  thousand  dollars  to  have  my  '  Evening ' 
put  into  marble.  I  returned  with  it  to  Paris, 
and  in  a  month  and  a  quarter  it  was  exhibited 
in  the  Salon.  At  the  World's  Fair,  at  Chicago, 
it  had  the  place  of  honor,  and  received  one  of 
the  eleven  grand  medals  given  to  American 
sculptors.  In  1892,  I  came  to  New  York. 
This  statue  of  '  Force '  will  be  erected,  with 
my  statue  of  '  Wisdom, '  on  the  new  Court  of 
Appeals  in  New  York.  " 

We  gazed  at  it,  seated,  and  clothed  in  partial 
armor,  of  the  old  Roman  type,  and  holding  a 
sword  across  its  knees.  The  great  muscles 
spoke  of  strength  and  force,  and  yet,  with  it 
all,  there  was  an  almost  benign  look  upon  the 
military  visage. 

"  There  is  force  and  real  action  there  withal, 
although  there  is  repose."  I  said  in  admira- 
tion. 

"  Oh,"  said  Mr.  Ruckstuhl,  "  that's  it,  and 
that  is  what  it  is  so  hard  to  get !  That  is  what 
every  sculptor  strives  for;  and,  unless  he  at- 
tains it,  his  work,  from  my  point  of  view,  is 
worthless.  There  must  be  life  in  a  statue;  it 

134 


F.  Wellington  Ruckstuhl 

must  almost  breathe.  In  repose  there  must  be 
dormant  action  that  speaks  for  itself." 

"  Is  most  of  your  work  done  under  inspira- 
tion?" I  asked. 

"  There  is  nothing, — and  a  great  deal, — in 
so-called  inspiration.  I  firmly  believe  that  we 
mortals  are  merely  tools,  mediums,  at  work 
here  on  earth.  I  peg  away,  and  bend  all  my 
energies  to  my  task.  I  simply  accomplish 
nothing.  Suddenly,  after  considerable  pre- 
paratory toil,  the  mist  clears  away;  I  see  things 
clearly;  everything  is  outlined  for  me.  I  be- 
lieve there  is  a  conscious  and  a  sub-conscious 
mind.  The  sub-conscious  mind  is  the  one  that 
does  original  work;  it  cannot  be  affected  by  the 
mind  that  is  conscious  to  all  our  petty  environ- 
ments. When  the  conscious  mind  is  lulled  and 
silenced,  the  sub-conscious  one  begins  to  work. 
That  I  call  inspiration." 

"Are  you  ever  discouraged?"  I  asked  out 
of  curiosity. 

"  Continually,"  replied  Mr.  Ruckstuhl,  look- 
ing down  at  his  hands,  soiled  with  the  working 
clay.  "  Some  days  I  will  be  satisfied  with  what 
I  have  done.  It  will  strike  me  as  simply  fine. 
I  will  be  as  happy  as  a  bird,  and  leave  simply 

»35 


How  They  Succeeded 

joyous.  The  following  morning,  when  the 
cloths  are  removed,  I  look  at  my  previous  toil, 
and  consider  it  vile.  I  ask  myself :  *  Are  you 
a  sculptor  or  not  ?  Do  you  think  that  you  ever 
will  be  one  ?  Do  you  consider  that  art  ?  '  So 
it  is,  till  your  task  is  accomplished.  You  are 
your  own  critic,  and  are  continually  distressed 
at  your  inability  to  create  your  ideals." 

Mr.  F.  Wellington  Ruckstuhl  is  forty-six 
years  of  age;  neither  short  nor  tall;  a  brilliant 
man,  with  wonderful  powers  of  endurance,  for 
his  work  is  more  exacting  and  tedious  than  is 
generally  supposed. 

"  I  have  simply  worked  a  month  and  a  quar- 
ter on  that  statue/'  he  said.  "  Certain  work 
dissatisfied  me,  and  I  obliterated  it.  I  have 
raised  that  head  three  times.  My  eyes  get 
weary,  and  I  become  physically  tired.  On  such 
occasions  I  sit  down  and  smoke  a  little  to  dis- 
tract my  thoughts,  and  to  clear  my  mind. 
Then  my  sub-conscious  mind  comes  into  play 
again,"  he  concluded  with  a  smile. 

Mr.  Ruckstuhl's  best  known  works  are: 
"  Mercury  Teasing  the  Eagle  of  Jupiter," 
which  is  of  bronze,  nine  feet  high,  which  he 
made  in  Paris;  a  seven-foot  statue  of  Solon, 
erected  in  the  Congressional  Library,  at  Wash- 

136 


F.  Wellington  Ruckstuhl 

ington;  busts  of  Franklin,  Goethe  and  Ma- 
caulay,  on  the  front  of  the  same  library;  and 
the  eleven-foot  statue  of  bronze  of  "  Victory," 
for  the  Jamaica  soldiers'  and  sailors'  monu- 
ment. In  competition,  he  won  the  contract  for 
an  equestrian  statue  of  General  John  F.  Hart- 
rauft,  ex-Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  which  he 
also  made  in  Paris.  It  is  considered  the  finest 
piece  of  work  of  its  kind  in  America.  Besides 
this  labor,  he  has  made  a  number  of  medallions 
and  busts;  and  with  the  completion  of  his 
statue  of  "  Force/'  he  will  have  made  a  won- 
derful record. 

"  Art  was  in  me  as  a  child,"  he  said :  "  I 
was  discouraged  whenever  it  beckoned  me,  but 
finally  claimed  me.  I  surrendered  a  good  posi- 
tion to  follow  it,  whether  it  led  through  a 
thorny  road  or  not.  A  sculptor  is  an  artist,  a 
musician,  a  poet,  a  writer,  a  dramatist, — to 
throw  action,  breath  and  life,  music  and  a  soul 
into  his  creation.  I  can  pick  up  an  instrument 
and  learn  it  instantly;  I  can  sing,  and  act,  so 
I  am  in  touch  with  the  sympathies  of  the  beings 
that  I  endeavor  to  create.  You  will  find  most 
sculptors  and  artists  of  my  composite  nature. 

"There,"  said  Mr.  Ruckstuhl,  and  he 
stretched  out  his  arm,  with  his  palm  down- 

'37 


How  They  Succeeded 

ward,  and  moved  it  through  the  air,  as  he 
gazed  into  distance,  "  you  strive  to  create  the 
imagination  of  your  mind,  and  it  comes  to 
you  as  if  sent  from  another  world." 

"  You  strive.'*    That  is  the  way  to  success. 


138 


IX      .:'.<-::  •&«& 

Questions  and  Answers:  Busi- 
ness Pointers  by  Darius  Og- 
den  Mills 

HAT  is  your  idea,  Mr.  Mills,1  of  a 
successful  life?"  "If  a  boot- 
black does  all  the  good  he  pos- 
sibly oan  for  his  fellow-men,  his  life  has  been 
just  as  successful  as  that  of  the  millionaire 
who  helps  thousands." 

WORK 

"  What,  Mr.  Mills,  do  you  consider  the  key- 
note of  success  ?  " 

"  Work,"  he  replied,  quickly  and  emphati- 
cally. "  Work  develops  all  the  good  there  is  in 
a  man ;  idleness  all  the  evil.  Work  sharpens  all 


1  Mr.  Mills  was  born  in  Western  New  York  in  1825. 
He  has  been  a  leading  financier  for  fifty  years,  in  Cali- 
fornia, and  in  New  York.  He  is  connected  with  the 
management  of  eighteen  important  business  and  philan- 
thropic corporations  in  New  York  city. 


How  They  Succeeded 

his  faculties  and  makes  him  thrifty;  idleness 
makes  him  lazy  and  a  spendthrift.  Work  sur- 
rounds a  man  with  those  whose  habits  are  in- 
dustrious and  honest;  in  such  society  a  weak 
man  develops  strength,  and  a  strong  man  is 
made  stronger.  Idleness,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
apt  to  throw  a  man  into  the  company  of  men 
whose  object  in  life  is  usually  the  pursuit  of  un- 
wholesome and  demoralizing  diversions." 

SELF-DEPENDEN  CE 

"To  what  formative  influence  do  you  at- 
tribute your  material  success,  Mr.  Mills  ?  "  I 
asked. 

"  I  was  taught  very  early  that  I  would  have 
to  depend  entirely  upon  myself ;  that  my  future 
lay  in  my  own  hands.  I  had  that  for  a  start, 
and  it  was  a  good  one.  I  didn't  waste  any 
time  thinking  about  succession  to  wealth,  which 
so  often  acts  as  a  drag  upon  young  men.  Many 
persons  waste  the  best  years  of  their  lives  wait- 
ing for  dead  men's  shoes;  and,  when  they  get 
them,  find  them  entirely  too  big  to  wear  grace- 
fully, simply  because  they  have  not  developed 
themselves  to  wear  them. 

"  As  a  rule,  the  small  inheritance,  which,  to 
a  boy,  would  seem  large,  has  a  tendency  to 

140 


Darius  Ogden  Mills 

lessen  his  efforts,  and  is  a  great  damage  to  him 
in  the  way  of  acquiring  the  habits  necessary 
to  success. 

HABIT  OF  THRIFT 

"  No  one  can  acquire  a  fortune  unless  he 
makes  a  start ;  and  the  habit  of  thrift,  which  he 
learns  in  saving  his  first  hundred  dollars,  is  of 
inestimable  value  later  on.  It  is  not  the  money, 
but  the  habit  which  counts. 

"  There  is  no  one  so  helpless  as  a  man  who 
is  '  broke/  no  matter  how  capable  he  may  be, 
and  there  is  no  habit  so  detrimental  to  his  repu- 
tation among  business  men  as  that  of  borrow- 
ing small  sums  of  money.  This  cannot  be  too 
emphatically  impressed  upon  young  men. 

EXPENSIVE  HABITS SMOKING 

"Another  thing  is  that  none  but  the 
wealthy,  and  very  few  of  them,  can  afford  the 
indulgence  of  expensive  habits;  how  much  less 
then  can  a  man  with  only  a  few  dollars  in  his 
pocket?  More  young  men  are  ruined  by  the 
expense  of  smoking  than  in  any  other  way. 
The  money  thus  laid  out  would  make  them  in- 
dependent, in  many  cases,  or  at  least  would 
give  them  a  good  start.  A  young  man  should 

141 


How  They  Succeeded 

be  warned  by  the  melancholy  example  of  those 
who  have  been  ruined  by  smoke,  and  avoid  it." 

FORMING    AN    INDEPENDENT    BUSINESS    JUDO4 
MENT 

"  What  marked  traits/'  Mr.  Mills,  "  have  the 
influential  men  with  whom  you  have  been  asso- 
ciated, possessed,  which  most  impressed  you  ?  " 

"  A  habit  of  thinking  and  acting  for  them- 
selves. No  end  of  people  are  ruined  by  taking 
the  advice  of  others.  This  may  answer  tem- 
porarily, but  in  the  long  run  it  is  sure  to  be  dis- 
astrous. Any  man  who  hasn't  ability  to  judge 
for  himself  would  better  get  a  comfortable 
clerkship  somewhere,  letting  some  one  of  more 
ambition  and  ability  do  the  thinking  necessary 
to  run  the  business." 

THE    MULTIPLICATION    OF    OPPORTUNITIES    TO- 
DAY IN  AMERICA 

"  Are  the  opportunities  for  making  money 
as  numerous  to-day  as  they  were  when  you 
started  in  business  ?  " 

"  Yes,  the  progress  of  science  and  invention 
has  increased  the  opportunities  a  thousandfold, 
and  a  man  can  find  them  wherever  he  seeks 
them  in  the  United  States  in  particular.  It  has 

I42 


Darius  Ogden  Mills 

caused  the  field  of  employment  of  labor  of  all 
kinds  to  expand  enormously,  thus  creating  op- 
portunities which  never  existed  before.  It  is 
no  longer  necessary  for  a  man  to  go  to  foreign 
countries  or  distant  parts  of  his  own  country 
to  make  money.  Opportunities  come  to  him 
in  every  quarter.  There  is  hardly  a  point  in 
the  country  so  obscure  that  it  has  not  felt  the 
revolutionizing  influence  of  commercial  enter- 
prise. Probably  railroads  and  electricity  are 
the  chief  instruments  in  this  respect.  Other  in- 
dustries follow  closely  in  their  wake." 

WHERE  ONE'S  BEST  CHANCE  IS THE  KNOWL- 
EDGE OF  MEN 

"  In  what  part  of  the  country  do  you  think 
the  best  chances  for  young  men  may  be 
found?" 

"  The  best  place  for  a  young  man  to  make 
money  is  the  town  in  which  he  was  born  and 
educated.  There  he  learns  all  about  everybody, 
and  everybody  learns  about  him.  This  is  to 
his  advantage  if  he  bears  a  good  character,  and 
to  the  advantage  of  his  towns-people  if  he  bears 
a  bad  one.  While  a  young  man  is  growing  up, 
he  unconsciously  absorbs  a  vast  deal  of  knowl- 
edge of  people  and  affairs,  which  would  be 

143 


How  They  Succeeded 

equal  to  money  if  he  only  has  the  judgment  to 
avail  himself  of  it.  A  knowledge  of  men  is  the 
prime  secret  of  business  success.  Upon  reflec- 
tion, how  absurd  it  is  for  a  man  to  leave  a  town 
where  he  knows  everything  and  everybody,  and 
go  to  some  distant  point  where  he  doesn't  know 
anything  about  anybody  or  anything,  and  ex- 
pect to  begin  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  peo- 
ple there  who  are  thoroughly  acquainted." 

THE  BOTTOM   OF  THE  LADDER 

"  What  lesson,"  Mr.  Mills,  "  do  you  consider 
it  most  needful  for  young  men  to  learn  ?  " 

"  The  lesson  of  humility ; — not  in  the  sense 
of  being  servile  or  undignified,  but  in  that  of 
paying  due  respect  to  men  who  are  their  su- 
periors in  the  way  of  experience,  knowledge 
and  position.  Such  a  lesson  is  akin  to  that  of 
discipline.  Members  of  the  royal  families  of 
Europe  are  put  in  subordinate  positions  in  the 
navies  or  armies  of  their  respective  countries, 
in  order  that  they  may  receive  the  training 
necessary  to  qualify  them  to  take  command. 
They  must  first  know  how  to  obey,  if  they 
would  control  others. 

"  In  this  country,  it  is  customary  for  the 
sons  of  the  presidents  of  great  railroads,  or 

144 


Darius  Ogden  Mills 

other  companies,  to  begin  at  the  bottom  of  the 
ladder  and  work  their  way  up  step  by  step,  just 
the  same  as  any  other  boy  in  the  employ  of  the 
corporation.  This  course  has  become  impera- 
tively necessary  in  the  United  States,  where  each 
great  business  has  become  a  profession  in  itself. 
Most  of  the  big  machine  shops  number  among 
their  employees,  scions  of  old  families  who 
carry  dinner  pails,  and  work  with  files  or  lathes, 
the  same  as  anyone  else.  Such  shoulder-to- 
shoulder  experience  is  invaluable  to  a  man  who 
is  destined  to  command,  because  he  not  only 
masters  the  trade  technically,  but  learns  all 
about  the  men  he  works  with  and  qualifies  him- 
self to  grapple  with  labor  questions  which  may 
arise. 

"  There  is  no  end  of  conspicuous  examples 
of  the  wisdom  of  this  system  in  America.  There 
are  also  many  instances  of  disaster  to  great  in- 
dustrial concerns  due  to  the  inexperience  or  the 
lack  of  tact  of  men  placed  suddenly  in  control." 

THE  BENEFICENT  USE  OF  CAPITAL 

Upon  this  point,  Mr.  Mills  said : — "  A  man 
can,  in  the  accumulation  of  a  fortune,  be  just  as 
great  a  benefactor  of  mankind  as  in  the  distri- 
bution of  it.  In  organizing  a  great  industry, 

145 


How  They  Succeeded 

one  opens  up  fields  of  employment  for  a  multi- 
tude of  people  who  might  otherwise  be  prac- 
tically helpless,  giving  them  not  only  a  chance 
to  earn  a  living  for  themselves  and  their  fam- 
ilies, but  also  to  lay  by  a  competency  for  old 
age.  All  honest,  sober  men,  if  they  have  half  a 
chance,  can  do  that ;  but  only  a  small  percentage 
can  ever  become  rich.  Now  the  rich  man,  hav- 
ing acquired  his  wealth,  knows  better  how  to 
manage  it  than  those  under  him  would,  and 
having  actual  possession,  he  has  the  power  to 
hold  the  community  of  his  employees  and  their 
interests  together,  and  prevent  disintegration, 
which  means  disaster  so  much  oftener  to  the 
employee  than  to  the  employer." 

THE  WHOLESOME  DISCIPLINE  OF  EARNING  AND 
SPENDING 

"  What  is  the  responsibility  of  wealth,  Mr. 
Mills?" 

"A  man  must  learn  not  to  think  too  much  of 
money.  It  should  be  considered  as  a  means 
and  not  an  end ;  and  the  love  for  it  should  never 
be  permitted  to  so  warp  a  man's  mind  as  to 
destroy  his  interest  in  progressive  ideas.  Mak- 
ing money  is  an  education,  and  the  wide  ex- 
perience thus  acquired  teaches  a  man  discrim- 

146 


Darius  Ogden  Mills 

ination  in  both  men  and  projects,  where  money 
is  under  consideration.  Very  few  men  who 
make  their  own  money  use  it  carelessly.  Most 
good  projects  that  fail  owe  their  failure  to  bad 
business  management,  rather  than  to  lack  of  in- 
trinsic merit.  An  inventor  may  have  a  very 
good  thing,  and  plenty  of  capital  may  be  en- 
listed but  if  a  man  not  acquainted  with  the 
peculiar  line,  or  one  who  is  not  a  good  sales- 
man or  financier  be  employed  as  manager,  the 
result  is  disastrous.  A  man  should  spend  his 
money  in  a  way  that  tends  to  advance  the  best 
interests  of  society  in  the  country  he  lives  in, 
or  in  his  own  neighborhood  at  least.  There  is 
only  one  thing  that  is  a  greater  harm  to  the 
community  than  a  rich  spendthrift,  and  that  is 
a  miser." 

PERSONAL:    A  WORD  ABOUT  CHEAP  HOTELS 

"  How  did  you  happen  to  establish  the  sys- 
tem of  hotels  which  bears  your  name,  Mr. 
Mills?" 

"  I  had  been  looking  around  for  several  years 
to  find  something  to  do  that  would  be  for  the 
good  of  the  community.  My  mind  was  largely 
on  other  matters,  but  it  occurred  to  me  that  the 
hotel  project  was  the  best,  and  I  immediately 

'47 


How  They  Succeeded 

went  to  work  at  it.  My  purpose  was  to  do  the 
work  on  so  large  a  scale  that  it  would  be  appre- 
ciated and  spread  all  over  the  country;  for  as 
the  sources  of  education  extend,  we  find  more 
and  more  need  of  assisting  men  who  have  a 
disposition  for  decency  and  good  citizenship. 
The  mechanic  is  well  paid,  and  the  man  who 
has  learned  to  labor  is  much  more  independent 
than  he  who  is  prepared  for  a  profession  or  a 
scientific  career,  or  other  objects  in  life  that  call 
for  higher  education.  Clerks  commencing  at 
small  salaries  need  good  surroundings  and 
economy  to  give  themselves  a  start.  Such  are 
the  men  for  whom  the  hotels  were  established." 


148 


Nordica:    What  it  Costs  to  Be- 
come a  Queen  of  Song 

OF  the  internationally  famous  singers, 
none  is  a  greater  favorite  than  Ma- 
dame Lillian  Nordica.  She  has  had 
honors  heaped  upon  her  by  every  music-loving 
country.  Milan,  St.  Petersburg,  Paris,  London 
and  New  York,  in  turn  accepted  her.  Jewel 
cases  filled  with  bracelets,  necklaces,  tiaras  and 
diadems,  of  gold  and  precious  stones,  attest  the 
unaffected  sincerity  of  her  admirers  in  all  the 
great  music-centers  of  the  world.  She  enjoys, 
in  addition,  the  distinction  of  being  one  of  the 
first  two  American  women  to  attain  to  inter- 
national fame  as  a  singer  in  grand  opera. 

Madame  Nordica  I  met  on  appointment  at 
the  Waldorf-Astoria  Hotel,  where  she  kindly 
detailed  for  me 

149 


How  They  Succeeded 

THE  DIFFICULTIES 

she  encountered  at  the  outset : — "  Distinction 
in  the  field  of  art  is  earned :  it  is  not  thrust  upon 
anyone.  The  material  for  a  great  voice  may 
be  born  in  a  person — it  is,  in  fact, — but  the 
making  of  it  into  a  great  voice  is  a  work  of  the 
most  laborious  character. 

"  In  some  countries  the  atmosphere  is  not 
very  favorable  to  beginners.  Almost  any  of  the 
greater  European  nations  is  probably  better  in 
this  respect  than  the  United  States:  not  much 
better,  however,  because  nearly  all  depends 
upon  strength  of  character,  determination,  and 
the  will  to  work.  If  a  girl  has  these,  she  will 
rise  as  high,  in  the  end,  anywhere." 

Madame  Nordica  came  of  New  England 
stock,  being  born  at  Farmington,  Maine,  and 
reared  in  Boston.  Her  parents,  bearing  the 
name  Norton,  possessed  no  musical  talent. 
"  Their  opinion  of  music,"  said  Madame,  "  was 
that  it  is  an  airy,  inviting  art  of  the  devil,  used 
to  tempt  men's  feet  to  stray  from  the  solemn 
path  of  right.  They  believed  music,  as  a  voca- 
tion, to  be  nearly  as  reprehensible  as  a  stage 
career,  and  for  the  latter  they  had  no  tolerance 
whatever.  I  must  be  just,  though,  and  own 

150 


Madame  Lillian  Nordica 

that  they  did  make  an  exception  in  the  case  of 
church  music,  else  I  should  never  have  received 
the  slightest  encouragement  in  my  aspirations. 
They  considered  music  in  churches  to  be  per- 
missible,— even  laudable,  so  when  I  displayed 
some  ability  as  a  singer,  I  was  allowed  to  use 
it  in  behalf  of  religion,  and  I  did.  I  joined  the 
church  choir  and  sang  hymns  about  the  house 
almost  constantly. 

"  But  I  needed  a  world  of  training.  I 
had  no  conception  of  what  work  lay  ahead  of 
anyone  who  contemplates  singing  perfectly.  I 
had  no  idea  of  how  high  I  might  go  myself.  All 
I  knew  was  that  I  could  sing,  and  that  I  would 
win  my  way  with  my  voice  if  I  could." 

"  How  did  you  accomplish  it?  " 

"  By  devoting  all  my  time,  all  my  thought, 
and  all  my  energy  to  that  one  object.  I  devoured 
church  music, — all  I  could  get  hold  of.  I  prac- 
tised new  and  difficult  compositions  all  the  time 
I  could  spare. 

"  I  became  a  very  good  church  singer ;  so 
much  so  that  when  there  were  church  concerts 
or  important  religious  ceremonies,  I  was  al- 
ways in  demand.  Then  there  began  to  be  a 
social  demand  for  my  ability,  and,  later,  a  pub- 
lic demand  in  the  way  of  concerts. 

'51 


How  They  Succeeded 

"  At  first,  I  ignored  all  but  church  singing. 
My  ambition  ran  higher  than  concert  singing, 
and  I  knew  my  parents  would  not  consent.  I 
persuaded  them  to  let  me  have  my  voice  trained. 
This  was  not  very  difficult,  because  my  church 
singing,  as  it  had  improved,  became  a  source 
of  considerable  profit;  and  they  saw  even 
greater  results  for  me  in  the  large  churches,  and 
in  the  religious  field.  So  I  went  to  a  teacher  of 
vocal  culture,  Professor  John  O'Neill,  one  of 
the  instructors  in  the  New  England  Conserva- 
tory of  Music,  Boston.  He  was  a  fine  old 
teacher,  a  man  with  the  highest  ideals  concern- 
ing music,  and  of  the  sternest  and  most  exact- 
ing method.  He  made  me  feel,  at  first,  that 

THE  WORLD  WAS  MINE,  IF  I  WOULD  WORK. 

Hard  work  was  his  constant  cry.  There  must 
be  no  play,  no  training  for  lower  forms  of  pub- 
lic entertainment,  no  anything  but  study  and 
practice.  I  must  work  and  perfect  myself  in 
private,  and  then  suddenly  appear  unheralded 
in  the  highest  class  of  opera  and  take  the  world 
by  storm. 

"  It  was  a  fine  fancy,  but  it  would  not  have 
been  possible.  O'Neill  was  a  fine  musician.  Un- 
der him  I  studied  the  physiology  of  the  voice, 

152 


Madame  Lillian  Nordica 

and  practiced  singing  oratorios.  I  also  took  up 
Italian,  familiarizing  myself  with  the  language, 
with  all  the  songs  and  endless  arias.  In  fact,  I 
made  myself  as  perfect  in  Italian  as  possible.  In 
three  years  I  had  been  greatly  improved.  Mr. 
O'Neill,  however,  employed  methods  of  mak- 
ing me  work  which  discouraged  me.  He  was 
a  man  who  would  magnify  and  storm  over  the 
slightest  error,  and  make  light  of  or  ignore  the 
sincerest  achievements.  He  put  his  grade  of 
perfection  so  high  that  I  began  to  consider  it 
unattainable,  and  lost  heart.  Finally,  I  gave 
it  up  and  rested  awhile,  uncertain  of  everything. 
"  After  I  had  thought  awhile  and  regained 
some  confidence,  I  came  to  New  York  to  see 
Mme.  Maretzek.  She  was  not  only  a  teacher, 
but  also  a  singer  quite  famous  in  her  day,  and 
she  thoroughly  knew  the  world  of  music.  She 
considered  my  voice  to  be  of  the  right  qual- 
ity for  the  highest  grade  of  operatic  success; 
and  gave  me  hope  that,  with  a  little  more  train- 
ing, I  could  begin  my  career.  She  not  only 
did  that,  but  also  set  me  to  studying  the  great 
operas,  '  Lucia '  and  the  others,  and  intro- 
duced me  to  the  American  musical  celebrities. 
Together  we  heard  whatever  was  worth  hear- 
ing in  New  York. 

'53 


How  They  Succeeded 

"  When  the  renowned  Brignola  came  to  New 
York,  she  took  me  to  the  Everett  House,  where 
he  was  stopping  and  introduced  me.  They 
were  good  friends,  and,  after  gaining  his  opin- 
ion on  the  character  of  my  voice,  she  had  him 
play  '  Faust/  That  was  a  wonderful  thing  for 
me.  To  hear  the  great  Brignola !  It  fired  my 
ambition.  As  I  listened  I  felt  that  I  could  also 
be  great  and  that  people,  some  day,  might  listen 
to  me  as  enraptured  as  I  then  was  by  him. 

"  IT  PUT  NEW  FIRE  INTO  ME 

and  caused  me  to  fairly  toil  over  my  studies.  I 
would  have  given  up  all  my  hours  if  only  I  had 
been  allowed  or  requested. 

"  So  it  went,  until  after  several  years  of 
study,  Madame  Maretzek  thought  I  was  get- 
ting pretty  well  along  and  might  venture  some 
important  public  singing.  We  talked  about  dif- 
ferent ways  of  appearing  and  what  I  would 
sing,  and  so  on,  until  finally  Gilmore's  band 
came  to  Madison  Square  Garden.  He  was  in 
the  heyday  of  his  success  then,  and  carried  im- 
portant soloists  with  him.  Madame  Maretzek 
decided  that  she  would  take  me  to  see  him  and 
get  his  opinion;  and  so,  one  day,  toward  the 
very  last  of  his  Madison  Square  engagement, 


Madame  Lillian  Nordica 

we  went  to  see  him.  Madame  Maretzek  was 
on  good  terms  with  him  also.  I  remember  that 
she  took  me  in,  one  morning,  when  he  was  re- 
hearsing. I  saw  a  stout,  kindly,  genial-looking 
man  who  was  engaged  in  tapping  for  attention, 
calling  certain  individuals  to  notice  certain 
points,  and  generally  fluttering  around  over  a 
dozen  odds  and  ends.  Madame  Maretzek 
talked  with  him  a  little  while  and  then  called 
his  attention  to  me.  He  looked  toward  me. 

"  '  Thinks  she  can  sing,  eh?  Yes,  yes.  Well, 
all  right !  Let  her  come  right  along.' 

"  Then  he  called  to  me, — '  Come  right  along 
now.  Step  right  up  here  on  the  stage.  Yes,  yes. 
Now,  what  can  you  sing  ? ' 

"  I  told  him  I  could  sing  almost  anything  in 
oratorio  or  opera,  if  he  so  wished.  He  said: 
*  Well,  well,  have  a  little  from  both.  Now, 
what  shall  it  be?' 

"  I  shall  never  forget  his  kindly  way.  He 
was  like  a  good  father,  gentle  and  reassuring, 
and  seemed  really  pleased  to  have  me  there  and 
to  hear  me.  I  went  up  on  the  platform  and  told 
him  that  I  would  begin  with  '  Let  the  Bright 
Seraphim/  and  he  called  the  orchestra  to  order 
and  had  them  accompany  me." 

"  I  was  slightly  nervous  at  first,  but  recov- 

'55 


How  They  Succeeded 

ered  my  equanimity  and  sang  up  to  my  full 
limit  of  power.  When  I  was  through,  he  re- 
marked, '  Very  good !  very  good ! '  and  '  Now, 
what  else  ? '  I  next  sang  an  aria  from  '  Som- 
nambula.'  He  did  not  hesitate  to  express  his 
approval,  which  was  always,  '  Very  good !  very 
good !  Now,  what  you  want  to  do,'  he  said,  '  is 
to  get  some  roses  in  your  cheeks,  and  come 
along  and  sing  for  me.'  After  that,  he  con- 
tinued his  conference  with  Madame  Maretzek 
and  then  we  went  away  together. 

"  I  WAS  TRAVELING  ON  AIR 

when  I  left,  I  can  assure  you.  His  company 
was  famous.  Its  engagement  had  been  most 
successful.  Madame  Poppenheim  was  singing 
with  it,  and  there  were  other  famous  names. 
There  were  only  two  more  concerts  to  conclude 
his  New  York  engagement,  but  he  had  told 
Madame  Maretzek  that  if  I  chose  to  come  and 
sing  on  these  occasions,  he  would  be  glad  to 
have  me.  I  was  more  than  glad  of  the  oppor- 
tunity and  agreed  to  go.  We  arranged  with 
him  by  letter,  and,  when  the  evening  came,  I 
sang.  My  work  made  a  distinct  impression  on 
the  audience,  and  pleased  Mr.  Gilmore  wonder- 
fully. After  the  second  night,  when  all  was 

156 


Madame  Lillian  Nordica 

over,  he  came  to  me,  and  said :  '  Now,  my 
dear,  of  course  there  is  no  more  concert  this 
summer,  but  I  am  going  West  in  the  fall.  Now, 
how  would  you  like  to  go  along  ?  ' 

"  I  told  him  that  I  would  like  to  go  very 
much,  if  it  could  be  arranged;  and,  after  some 
negotiation,  he  agreed  to  pay  the  expenses  of 
my  mother  and  myself,  and  give  me  one  hun- 
dred dollars  a  week  besides.  I  accepted,  and 
when  the  western  tour  began,  we  went  along. 

"  I  gained  thorough  control  of  my  nerves 
upon  that  tour,  and  learned  something  of  audi- 
ences, and  of  what  constitutes  distinguished 
1  stage  presence.'  /  studied  all  the  time,  and, 
with  the  broadening  influence  of  travel,  gained 
a  great  deal.  At  the  end  of  the  tour,  my  voice 
was  more  under  my  control  than  ever  before, 
and  I  was  a  better  singer  all  around." 

"  You  did  not  begin  with  grand  opera,  after 
all?" 

"  No,  I  did  not.  It  was  not  a  perfect  con- 
clusion of  my  dreams,  but  it  was  a  great  deal. 
My  old  instructor,  Mr.  O'Neill,  took  it  worse 
than  I  did.  He  regarded  my  ambitions  as  hav- 
ing all  come  to  naught.  I  remember  that  he 
wrote  me  a  letter  in  which  he  thus  called  me  to 
account : — 


How  They  Succeeded 

"  l  After  all  my  training,  my  advice,  that  you 
should  come  to  this!  A  whole  lifetime  of  am- 
bition and  years  of  the  hardest  study  consumed 
to  fit  you  to  go  on  the  road  with  a  brass  band ! 
Poh!' 

"  I  pocketed  the  sarcasm  in  the  best  of  hu- 
mor, because  I  was  sure  of  my  dear  old  teach- 
er's unwavering  faith  in  me,  and  knew  that  he 
wrote  only  for  my  own  good.  Still,  I  felt  that 
I  was  doing  wisely  in  getting  before  the  public, 
and  so  decided  to  wait  quietly  and  see  if  time 
would  not  justify  me. 

"  When  the  season  was  over,  Mr.  Gilmore 
came  to  me  again.  He  was  the  most  kindly 
man  I  ever  knew.  His  manner  was  as  gentle 
and  his  heart  as  good  as  could  be. 

"  '  I  am  going  to  Europe/  he  said.  '  I  am  go- 
ing to  London  and  Paris  and  Vienna  and 
Rome,  and  all  the  other  big  cities.  There  will 
be  a  fine  chance  for  you  to  see  all  those  places 
and  let  Europeans  hear  you.  They  appreciate 
good  singers.  Now,  little  girl,  do  you  want  to 
come?  If  you  do,  you  can/" 

"  I  talked  it  over  with  my  mother  and  Ma- 
dame Maretzek,  and  decided  to  go ;  and  so,  the 
next  season,  we  were 

158 


Madame  Lillian  Nordica 

IN   EUROPE. 

"We  gave  seventy-eight  concerts  in  Eng- 
land and  France.  We  opened  the  Trocadero  at 
Paris,  and  mine  was  the  first  voice  of  any  kind 
to  sing  there.  This  European  tour  of  the 
American  band  was  a  great  and  successful  ven- 
ture. American  musicians  still  recall  the  furore 
which  it  created,  and  the  prestige  which  it 
gained  at  home.  Mr.  Gilmore  was  proud  of  his 
leading  soloists.  In  Paris,  where  the  great  au- 
diences went  wild  over  my  singing,  he  came  to 
praise  me  personally  in  unmeasured  terms.  '  My 
dear,'  he  said,  '  you  are  going  to  be  a  great 
singer.  You  are  going  to  be  crowned  in  your 
own  country  yet.  Mark  my  words:  they  are 
going  to  put  diamonds  on  your  brow ! '  [Ma- 
dame Nordica  had  good  occasion  to  recall  this, 
in  1898,  many  years  after,  when  her  enthusi- 
astic New  York  admirers  crowned  her  with  a 
diamond  tiara  as  a  tribute  of  their  admiration 
and  appreciation.] 

"  It  was  at  the  time  when  Gilmore  was  at 
the  height  of  his  Paris  engagement  that  his 
agent  ran  off  with  his  funds  and  left  the  old 
bandmaster  almost  stranded.  Despite  his  sin- 
cere trouble,  he  retained  his  imperturbable  good 
nature,  and  came  out  of  it  successfully.  He 


How  They  Succeeded 

came  to  me,  one  morning,  smiling  good-na- 
turedly, as  usual.  After  greeting  me  and  in- 
quiring after  my  health,  he  said :  '  My  dear 
child,  you  have  saved  some  little  money  on  this 
tour?'  I  told  him  I  had. 

"  '  Now,  I  would  like  to  borrow  that  little 
from  you/ 

"  I  was  very  much  surprised  at  the  request, 
for  he  said  nothing  whatever  of  his  loss.  Still, 
he  had  been  so  uniformly  kind  and  generous, 
and  had  won  our  confidence  and  regard  so 
wholly,  that  I  could  not  hesitate.  I  turned  over 
nearly  all  I  had,  and  he  gathered  it  up  and  went 
away,  simply  thanking  me.  Of  course,  I  heard 
of  the  defalcation  later.  It  became  generally 
known.  Our  salaries  went  right  on,  how- 
however,  and  in  a  few  months  the  whole  thing 
had  been  quite  forgotten,  when  he  came  to  ,me 
one  morning  with  money  ready  in  his  hand. 

"  '  To  pay  you  what  I  owe  you,  my  dear/  he 
said. 

"  '  Oh,  yes ! '  I  said ;  '  so  and  so  much/ — 
naming  the  amount. 

"  '  Here  it  is/  he  said ;  and,  handing  me  a  roll 
of  bills,  he  went  away.  Of  course,  I  did  not 
count  it  until  a  little  later;  but,  when  I  did,  I 
found  just  double  the  amount  I  had  named, 

1 60 


Madame  Lillian  Nordica 

and  no  persuasion  would  ever  induce  him  to 
accept  a  penny  of  it  back." 

"  When  did  you  part  with  Gilmore?  " 
"  At  the  end  of  that  tour.  He  determined  to 
return  to  America,  and  I  had  decided  to  spend 
some  of  my  earnings  on  further  study  in  Italy. 
Accordingly,  I  went  to  Milan,  to  the  singing 
teacher  San  Giovanni.  On  arriving  there,  I 
visited  the  old  teacher  and  stated  my  object.  I 
said  that  I  wanted  to  sing  in  grand  opera. 

"  '  WHY  DON'T  YOU  SING  IN  GRAND  OPERA  ? ' 

"  He  answered;   '  let  me  hear  your  voice/ 

"  I  sang  an  aria  from  '  Lucia  ' ;  and,  when  I 
was  through,  he  said,  dryly :  '  You  want  to 
sing  in  grand  opera  ?  ' 

"  '  Yes/ 

"'Well,  why  don't  you?' 

"  '  I  need  training/ 

"  '  Nonsense ! '  he  answered.  '  We  will  at- 
tend to  that.  You  need  a  few  months  to  prac- 
tice Italian  methods, — that  is  all/ 

"  So  I  spent  three  months  with  him.  After 
much  preparation  I  made  my  debut  as  Violetta 
in  Verdi's  opera,  '  La  Traviata/  at  the  Teatro 
Grande,  in  Brescia." 

The  details  of  Madame  Nordica's  Italian  ap- 

161 


How  They  Succeeded 

pearance  are  very  interesting.  Her  success  was 
instantaneous.  Her  fame  went  up  and  down 
the  land,  and  across  the  water — to  her  home. 
She  next  sang  in  Gounod's"  Faust,"  at  Geneva, 
and  soon  afterwards  appeared  at  Navarro, 
singing  Alice  in  Meyerbeer's  "  Roberto,"  the 
enthusiastic  and  delighted  subscribers  present- 
ing her  with  a  handsome  set  of  rubies  and 
pearls.  After  that,  she  was  engaged  to  sing 
at  the  Russian  capital,  and  accordingly  went  to 
St.  Petersburg,  where,  in  October,  1881,  she 
made  her  debut  as  La  Filma  in  "  Mignon." 

There,  also  her  success  was  great.  She  was 
the  favorite  of  the  society  of  the  court,  and  re- 
ceived pleasant  attentions  from  every  quarter. 
Presents  were  made  her,  and  inducements  for 
her  continued  presence  until  two  winters  had 
passed.  Then  she  decided  to  revisit  France  and 
Paris. 

THIS  WAS  HER  CROWNING  TRIUMPH 

"  I  wanted  to  sing  in  grand  opera  at  Paris," 
she  said  to  me.  "  I  wanted  to  know  that  I  could 
appear  successfully  in  that  grand  place.  I 
counted  my  achievements  nothing  until  I  could 
do  that." 

"And  did  you?" 

162 


Madame  Lillian  Nordica 

"  Yes.     In  July,  1882,  I  appeared  there." 

This  was  her  greatest  triumph.  In  the  part 
of  Marguerite,  she  took  the  house  by  storm, 
and  won  from  the  composer  the  highest  encomi- 
ums. Subsequently,  she  appeared  with  equal 
success  as  Ophelie,  having  been  specially  pre- 
pared for  both  these  roles  by  the  respective 
composers,  Charles  Gounod  and  Ambroise 
Thomas. 

"  You  should  have  been  satisfied,  after  that," 
I  said. 

"  I  was,"  she  answered.  "  So  thoroughly 
was  I  satisfied  that  soon  afterwards  I  gave  up 
my  career,  and  was  married.  For  two  years,  I 
remained  away  from  the  public;  but  after  that 
time,  my  husband  having  died,  I  decided  to 
return. 

"  I  made  my  first  appearance  at  the  Burton 
Theatre  in  London,  and  was  doing  well  enough 
when  Colonel  Mapleson  came  to  me.  He  was 
going  to  produce  grand  opera, — in  fact  he  was 
going  to  open  Covent  Garden,  which  had  been 
closed  for  a  long  time,  with  a  big  company.  He 
was  another  interesting  character.  I  found  him 
to  be  generous  and  kind-hearted  and  happy- 
spirited  as  anyone  could  be.  When  he  came  to 
me,  it  was  in  the  most  friendly  manner.  '  I  am 

163 


How  They  Succeeded 

going  to  open  Covent  Garden/  he  said.  '  Now, 
here  is  your  chance  to  sing  there.  All  the  great 
singers  have  appeared  there.  Patti,  Gerster, 
Nilsson,  Tietjens;  now  it's  your  turn, — come 
and  sing/ 

"  'How  about  terms?  '  I  asked. 

"  '  Terms ! '  he  exclaimed ;  '  terms !  Don't 
let  such  little  details  stand  in  your  way.  What 
is  money  compared  to  this?  Ignore  money. 
Think  of  the  honor,  of  the  memories  of  the 
place,  of  what  people  think  of  it/  And  then  he 
waved  his  arms  dramatically. 

"  Yet,  we  came  to  terms,  not  wholly  sacrifi- 
cial on  my  part,  and  the  season  began.  Covent 
Garden  had  not  been  open  for  a  long  time.  It 
was  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  cold  and  damp. 
There  was  a  crowded  house,  though,  because 
fashion  accompanied  the  Prince  of  Wales  there. 
He  came,  night  after  night,  and  heard  the  opera 
through  with  an  overcoat  on. 

"  It  was  no  pleasant  task  for  me,  or  healthy, 
either,  but  the  Lord  has  blessed  me  with  a 
sound  constitution.  I  sang  my  parts,  as  they 
should  be  sung — some  in  bare  arms  and  shoul- 
ders, with  too  little  clothing  for  such  a  tempera- 
ture. I  nearly  froze,  but  it  was  Covent  Garden 

164 


Madame  Lillian  Nordica 

and  a  great  London  audience,  and  so  I  bore  up 
under  it. 

"  Things  went  on  this  way  very  successfully 
until  Sir  Augustus  Harris  took  Drury  Lane 
and  decided  to  produce  grand  opera.  He  started 
in  opposition  to  Colonel  Mapleson,  and  so  Co- 
vent  Garden  had  to  be  given  up.  Mr.  Harris 
had  more  money,  more  prestige  with  society, 
and  Colonel  Mapleson  could  not  live  under  the 
division  of  patronage.  When  I  saw  the  situ- 
ation, I  called  on  the  new  manager  and  talked 
with  him  concerning  the  next  season.  He  was 
very  proud  and  very  condescending,  and  made 
sure  to  show  his  indifference  to  me.  He  told 
me  all  about  the  brilliant  season  he  was  plan- 
ning, gave  me  a  list  of  the  great  names  he  in- 
tended to  charm  with,  and  wound  up  by  saying 
he  would  call  on  me,  in  case  of  need,  but 
thought  he  had  all  the  celebrities  he  could  use, 
but  would  let  me  know. 

"  Of  course,  I  did  not  like  that;  but  I  knew 
I  could  rest  awhile,  and  so  was  not  much  dis- 
turbed. The  time  for  the  opening  of  the  sea- 
son arrived.  The  papers  were  full  of  accounts 
of  the  occasion,  and  there  were  plenty  of  re- 
marks concerning  my  non-appearance.  Then 

165 


How  They  Succeeded 

'  Aida '  was  produced,  and  I  read  the  criticisms 
of  it  with  interest. 


"The  same  afternoon  a  message  came  for 
me :  '  Would  I  come  ?  '  and  '  Would  I  do  so  and 
so  ?  '  I  would,  and  did.  I  sang  '  Aida '  and  then 
other  parts,  and  gradually  all  the  parts  but  one, 
which  I  had  longed  to  try,  but  had  not 
yet  had  the  opportunity  given  to  me.  I  was 
very  successful,  and  Sir  Augustus  was  very 
friendly. 

"  The  summer  after  that  season,  I  visited 
Ems,  where  the  De  Reszkes  were.  One  day 
they  said :  '  We  are  going  to  Beirut,  to  hear 
the  music, — don't  you  want  to  go  along?'  I 
thought  it  over,  and  decided  that  I  did.  My 
mother  and  I  packed  up  and  departed.  When  I 
got  there  and  saw  those  splendid  performances, 
I  was  entranced.  It  was  perfectly  beautiful. 
Everything  was  arranged  after  an  ideal  fash- 
ion. I  had  a  great  desire  to  sing  there,  and 
boasted  to  my  mother  that  I  would.  When  I 
came  away,  I  was  fully  determined  to  carry  it 
out." 

"  Could  you  speak  German  ?  " 

"  Not  at  all.  I  began,  though,  at  once,  to 

166 


Madame  Lillian  Nordica 

study  it;  and,  when  I  could  talk  it  sufficiently, 
I  went  to  Beirut  and  saw  Madame  Wagner." 

THE  KINDNESS  OF  FRAU  WAGNER 

"  Did  you  find  her  the  imperious  old  lady  she 
is  said  to  be?" 

"  Not  at  all.  She  welcomed  me  most  heartily ; 
and,  when  I  told  her  that  I  had  come  to  see  if 
I  could  not  sing  there,  she  seemed  much 
pleased.  She  treated  me  like  a  daughter,  ex- 
plained all  that  she  was  trying  to  do,  and  gave 
me  a  world  of  encouragement.  Finally,  I  ar- 
ranged to  sing  and  create  '  Elsa  *  after  my  own 
idea  of  it,  during  the  season  following  the  one 
then  approaching. 

"  Meanwhile  I  came  to  New  York  to  fulfill 
my  contract  for  the  season  of  1894-1895. 
While  doing  that,  I  made  a  study  of  Wagner's, 
and,  indeed,  of  all  German  music;  and,  when 
the  season  was  over,  went  back  and  sang  it." 

Madame  Nordica  has  found  her  work  very 
exacting.  For  it  she  has  needed  a  good  phys- 
ique; her  manner  of  study  sometimes  calling 
for  an  extraordinary  mental  strain : — 

"  I  remember  once,  during  my  season  under 
Augustus  Harris,  that  he  gave  a  garden  party, 
one  Sunday,  to  which  several  of  his  company 

167 


How  They  Succeeded 

were  invited, — myself  included.  When  the 
afternoon  was  well  along,  he  came  to  me  and 
said :  '  Did  you  ever  sing  "  Valencia  "  in  "  The 
Huguenots  ?  "  I  told  him  I  had  not. 

"  '  Do  you  think  you  could  learn  the  music 
and  sing  it  by  next  Saturday  night  ? ' 

"  I  felt  a  little  appalled  at  the  question,  but 
ventured  to  say  that  I  could.  I  knew  that  hard 
work  would  do  it. 

"  '  Then  do/  he  replied ;  '  for  I  must  have 
you  sing  it.' 

"  The  De  Reszkes,  Jean  and  Edouard,  were 
near  at  the  time,  and  offered  to  assist  me.  '  Try 
it/  they  said,  and  so  I  agreed.  We  began  re- 
hearsals, almost  without  study,  the  very  next 
day,  both  the  De  Reszkes  prompting  me,  and 
by  Friday  they  had  me  letter-perfect  and  ready 
to  go  on.  Since  the  time  seemed  so  peculiarly 
short,  they  feared  for  me,  and,  during  the  per- 
formance, stationed  themselves,  one  in  either 
wing,  to  reassure  me.  Whenever  I  approached 
near  to  either  side  of  the  stage,  it  was  always  to 
hear  their  repeated  '  Be  calm ! '  whispered  so 
loud  that  the  audience  could  almost  hear  it.  Yet 
I  sang  easily,  never  thinking  of  failure/' 


168 


Madame  Lillian  Nordica 

MUSICAL   TALENT   OF   AMERICAN    GIRLS 

"  Let  me  ask  you  one  thing,"  I  said.  "  Has 
America  good  musical  material  ?  " 

"  As  much  as  any  other  country,  and  more, 
I  should  think.  The  higher  average  of  intelli- 
gence here  should  yield  a  greater  percentage  of 
musical  intelligence." 

"  Then  there  ought  to  be  a  number  of  Amer- 
ican women  who  can  do  good  work  of  a  high 
order?" 

"  There  ought  to  be,  but  it  is  a  question 
whether  there  will  be.  They  are  not  cut  out 
for  the  work  which  it  requires  to  develop  a 
good  voice.  I  have  noticed  that  young  women 
seem  to  underestimate  the  cost  of  distinction. 
It  means  more  than  most  of  them  are  prepared 
to  give;  and,  when  they  face  the  exactions  of 
art,  they  falter  and  drop  out.  Hence  we  have 
many  middle-class  singers,  but  few  really  pow- 
erful ones." 

"  What  are  these  exactions  you  speak  of  ?  " 

"  Time,  money,  and  loss  of  friends,  of  pleas- 
ure. To  be  a  great  singer  means,  first,  to  be  a 
great  student.  To  be  a  great  student  means 
that  you  have  no  time  for  balls  and  parties,  very 
little  for  friends,  and  less  for  carriage  rides  and 

169 


How  They  Succeeded 

pleasant  strolls.  All  that  is  really  left  is  a 
shortened  allowance  of  sleep,  of  time  for  meals, 
and  time  for  exercise. 

THE  PRICE  OF  FAME 

"  Permanent  recognition,  which  cannot  be 
taken  away  from  you,  is  acquired  only  by  a 
lifetime  of  most  earnest  labor.  People  are 
never  internationally  recognized  until  they  have 
reached  middle  life.  Many  persons  gain  no- 
toriety young,  but  that  goes  as  quickly  as  it 
comes.  All  true  success  is  founded  on  real  ac- 
complishment acquired  with  difficulty. 

"  Many  young  people  have  genius ;  but  they 
need  training  for  valuable  service.  The  world 
gives  very  little  recognition  for  a  great  deal  of 
labor  paid  in;  and,  when  I  earn  a  thousand 
dollars  for  a  half  hour's  singing  sometimes,  it 
does  not  nearly  average  up  for  all  the  years  and 
for  the  labor  much  more  difficult  which  I  con- 
tributed without  recompense." 


170 


|l  xi  piif 

How   William  Dean  Howells 
Worked  to  Secure  a  Foothold 

IN  answer  to  my  question,  what  constitutes 
success  in  life,  Mr.  Howells  replied  that 
everything  is  open  to  the  beginner  who 
has  sufficient  energy,  perseverance  and  brains. 

"  A  young  man  stands  at  the  parting  of  two 
ways,"  he  added,  "  and  can  take  his  path  this 
way  or  that.  It  is  comparatively  easy  then, 
with  good  judgment.  Youth  is  certainly  the 
greatest  advantage  which  life  supplies." 

Upon  my  inquiring  about  his  early  life,  he 
replied :  "I  was  born  in  a  little  southeastern 
Ohio  village — Martin's  Ferry, — which  had 
little  of  what  people  deem  advantages  in 
schools,  railroads,  or  population.  I  am  not 
sure,  however,  that  compensation  was  not  had 
in  other  things." 

As  to  any  special  talent  for  literary  composi- 
tion, Mr.  Howells  remarked  that  he  came  of  a 

171 


How  They  Succeeded 

reading  race,  which  had  always  loved  litera- 
ture in  a  way,  and  that  it  was  his  inclination 
to  read. 

Upon  this,  I  ventured  to  ask :  "  Would  you 
say  that,  with  a  leaning  toward  a  special  study, 
and  good  health,  a  fair  start,  and  perseverance, 
anyone  can  attain  to  distinction?  " 

"  That  is  a  probability,  only.  You  may  be 
sure  that  distinction  will  not  come  without 
those  qualities.  The  only  way  to  succeed,  is  to 
have  them;  although  having  them  will  not 
necessarily  guarantee  distinction.  I  can  only 
say  that  I  began  with 

A  LOFTY  IDEAL. 

"  My  own  youth  was  not  specially  marked 
by  advantages.  There  were  none,  unless  you 
can  call  a  small  bookcase  full  of  books,  which 
my  home  contained,  an  advantage.  The  print- 
ing-office was  my  school  from  a  very  early  date. 
My  father  thoroughly  believed  in  it,  and  he 
had  his  belief  as  to  work,  which  he  illustrated 
as  soon  as  we  were  old  enough  to  learn  the 
trade  he  followed.  We  could  go  to  school  and 
study,  or  we  could  go  into  the  printing-office 
and  work,  with  perhaps  an  equal  chance  of 
learning;  but  we  could  not  be  idle." 

1/2 


William  Dean  Howells 

"  And  you  chose  the  printing-office  ?  " 

"  Not  wholly.  As  I  recall  it,  I  went  to  and 
fro  between  the  schoolhouse  and  the  printing- 
office.  When  I  tired  of  one,  I  was  promptly 
given  the  other. 

"  As  the  world  goes  now,  we  were  poor. 
My  father's  income  was  never  above  twelve 
hundred  a  year,  and  his  family  was  large;  but 
nobody  was  rich  then.  We  lived  in  the  simple 
fashion  of  that  time  and  place. 

"  My  reading,  somehow,  went  on  pretty  con- 
stantly. No  doubt  my  love  for  it  won  me  a 
chance  to  devote  time  to  it.  The  length  varied 
with  varying  times. 

"  Sometimes  I  read  but  little.  There  were 
so  many  years  of  work — of  over-work,  indeed, 
which  falls  to  the  lot  of  many, — that  I  should 
be  ashamed  to  speak  of  it  except  in  accounting 
for  the  fact  of  my  little  reading.  My  father 
had  sold  his  paper  in  Hamilton,  and  bought 
an  interest  in  another  at  Dayton,  and  at  that 
time  we  were  all  straining  our  utmost  to  help 
pay  for  it.  In  that  period  very  few  hours  were 
given  to  literature.  My  daily  tasks  began  so 
early,  and  ended  so  late,  that  I  had  little  time, 
even  if  I  had  the  spirit  for  reading.  Some- 
times I  had  to  sit  up  until  midnight,  waiting 


How  They  Succeeded 

for  telegraphic  news,  and  be  up  again  at  dawn 
to  deliver  the  papers,  working  afterwards  at 
the  case;  but  that  was  only  for  a  few  years." 

ACQUIRING  A  LITERARY  STYLE 

"  When  did  you  find  time  to  seriously  apply 
yourself  to  literature  ?  " 

"  I  think  I  did  so  before  I  really  had  the 
time.  Literary  aspirations  were  stirred  in  me 
by  the  great  authors  whom  I  successively  dis- 
covered, and  I  was  perpetually  imitating  the 
writings  of  these, — modeling  some  composition 
of  my  own  after  theirs,  but  never  willing  to 
own  it." 

"  Do  you  attribute  your  style  to  the  com- 
posite influence  of  these  various  models  ?  " 

"  No  doubt  they  had  their  effect,  as  a  whole, 
but  individually  I  was  freed  from  the  last  by 
each  succeeding  author,  until  at  length  I  came 
to  understand  that  I  must  be  like  myself,  and 
no  other." 

"  Had  you  any  conveniences  for  literary  re- 
search, beyond  the  bookcase  in  your  home  ?  " 

"  If  you  mean  a  place  to  work,  I  had  a  nar- 
row, little  space,  under  the  stairs.  There  was 
a  desk  pushed  back  against  the  wall,  which  the 
irregular  ceiling  sloped  down  to  meet,  behind 

'74 


William  Dean  Howells 

it;  and  at  my  left  was  a  window,  which  gave 
a  good  light  on  the  writing  leaf  of  my  desk. 
This  was 

MY  WORKSHOP 

for  six  or  seven  years, — and  it  was  not  at  all 
a  bad  one.  It  seemed,  for  a  while,  so  very 
simple  and  easy  to  come  home  in  the  middle 
of  the  afternoon,  when  my  task  at  the  printing- 
office  was  done,  and  sit  down  to  my  books  in 
my  little  study,  which  I  did  not  finally  leave 
until  the  family  were  all  in  bed.  My  father 
had  a  decided  bent  for  literature;  and,  when  I 
began  to  show  a  liking  for  it,  he  was  eager  to 
direct  my  choice.  This  finally  changed  to 
merely  recommending  books,  and  eventually  I 
was  left  to  my  own  judgment, — a  perplexed 
and  sorrowfully  mistaken  judgment,  at  times." 

"  In  what  manner  did  you  manage  to  read 
the  works  of  all  your  favorite  authors  ?  " 

"'My  hours  in  the  printing-office  began  at 
seven  and  ended  at  six,  with  an  hour  at  noon 
for  dinner,  which  I  used  for  putting  down  such 
verses  as  had  come  to  me  in  the  morning.  As 
soon  as  supper  was  over  I  got  out  my  manu- 
scripts, and  sawed,  and  filed,  and  hammered 
away  at  my  blessed  poems,  which  were  little 

'75 


How  They  Succeeded 

less  than  imitations,  until  nine,  when  I  went 
regularly  to  bed,  to  rise  again  at  five.  Some- 
times the  foreman  gave  me  an  afternoon  off  on 
Saturday,  which  I  devoted  to  literature." 

As  I  questioned  further,  it  was  said :  "  As 
I  recall  it,  my  father  had  secured  one  of  those 
legislative  clerkships  in  1858,  which  used  to 
fall  sometimes  to  deserving  country  editors; 
and  together  we  managed  and  carried  out  a 
scheme  for  corresponding  with  some  city 
papers.  Going  to  Columbus,  the  State  Capital, 
we  furnished  a  daily  letter  giving  an  account 
of  the  legislative  proceedings,  which  I  mainly 
wrote  from  the  material  he  helped  me  to  gather. 
The  letters  found  favor,  and  my  father  with- 
drew from  the  work  wholly.  These  letters  I 
furnished  during  two  years. 

"  At  the  end  of  the  first  winter,  a  Cincinnati 
paper  offered  me  the  city  editorship,  but  one 
night's  round  with  the  reporters  at  the  police 
station  satisfied  me  that  I  was  not  meant  for 
that  kind  of  work.  I  then  returned  home  for 
the  summer,  and  spent  my  time  in  reading, 
and  in  sending  off  poems,  which  regularly  came 
back.  I  worked  in  my  father's  printing-office; 
but,  as  soon  as  my  task  was  done,  went  home 
to  my  books,  and  worked  away  at  them  until 

176 


William  Dean  Howells 

supper.  Then  a  German  bookbinder,  with 
whom  I  was  endeavoring  to  read  Heine  in  the 
original,  met  me  in  my  father's  editorial  room, 
and  with  a  couple  of  candles  on  the  table  be- 
tween us,  and  our  Heine  and  the  dictionary 
before  us,  we  read  until  we  were  both  tired 
out." 

As  to  the  influence  of  this  constant  writing 
and  constant  study,  Mr.  Howells  remarked: 
"  It  was  not  without  its  immediate  use.  I 
learned 

HOW  TO  CHOOSE  BETWEEN  WORDS, 

after  a  study  of  their  fitness;  and,  though  I 
often  employed  them  decoratively,  and  with  no 
vital  sense  of  their  qualities,  still,  in  mere  deco- 
ration, they  had  to  be  chosen  intelligently,  and 
after  some  thought  about  their  structure  and 
meaning.  I  could  not  imitate  great  writers 
without  imitating  their  method,  which  was  to 
the  last  degree  intelligent.  They  knew  what 
they  were  doing,  and,  although  I  did  not  al- 
ways know  what  I  was  doing,  they  made  me 
wish  to  know,  and  ashamed  of  not  knowing. 
The  result  was  beneficial." 

Mr.  Howells  then  spoke  of  his  astonishment, 
when  one  day  he  was  at  work  as  usual  in  the 

i77 


How  They  Succeeded 

printing-office  at  home,  upon  being  invited  to 
take  a  place  upon  a  Republican  newspaper  at 
Columbus,  the  Capital;  where  he  was  given 
charge  of  the  news  department.  This  included 
the  literary  notices  and  book  reviews,  to  which, 
at  once,  he  gave  his  prime  attention. 

"  When  did  you  begin  to  contribute  to  the 
literature  of  the  day  ?  " 

"  If  you  mean,  when  did  I  begin  to  attempt 
to  contribute,  I  should  need  to  fix  an  early  date, 
for  I  early  had  experience  with  rejected  manu- 
scripts. One  of  my  pieces,  upon  the  familiar 
theme  of  Spring,  was  the  first  thing  I  ever  had 
in  print.  My  father  offered  it  to  the  editor  of 
the  paper  I  worked  on  in  Columbus,  where  we 
were  then  living,  and  I  first  knew  what  he  had 
done,  when  with  mingled  shame  and  pride,  I 
saw  it  in  the  journal.  In  the  tumult  of  my 
emotions,  I  promised  myself  that  if  I  ever  got 
through  that  experience  safely,  I  would  never 
suffer  anything  else  of  mine  to  be  published; 
but  it  was  not  long  before  I  offered  the  editor 
a  poem,  myself." 

"  When  did  you  publish  your  first  story  ?  " 

"  My  next  venture  was  a  story  in  the  Ik 
Marvel  manner,  which  it  was  my  misfortune 
to  carry  into  print.  I  did  not  really  write  it, 

178 


William  Dean  Howells 

but  composed  it,  rather,  in  type,  at  the  case. 
It  was  not  altogether  imitated  from  Ik  Marvel, 
for  I  drew  upon  the  easier  art  of  Dickens,  at 
times,  and  helped  myself  out  in  places  with 
bold  parodies  of  '  Bleak  House/  It  was  all 
very  well  at  the  beginning,  but  I  had  not 
reckoned  with  the  future  sufficiently  to  start 
with  any  clear  ending  in  my  mind;  and,  as  I 
went  on,  I  began  to  find  myself  more  and  more 
in  doubt  about  it.  My  material  gave  out;  my 
incidents  failed  me;  the  characters  wavered, 
and  threatened  to  perish  in  my  hands.  To 
crown  my  misery,  there  grew  up  an  impatience 
with  the  story  among  its  readers;  and  this 
found  its  way  to  me  one  day,  when  I  overheard 
an  old  farmer,  who  came  in  for  his  paper,  say 
that  he  '  did  not  think  that  story  amounted  to 
much.'  I  did  not  think  so  either,  but  it  was 
deadly  to  have  it  put  into  words,  and  how  I 
escaped  the  moral  effect  of  the  stroke  I  do  not 
know.  Somehow,  I  managed  to  bring  the 
wretched  thing  to  a  close,  and  to  live  it  slowly 
down. 

THE   FATE   FOLLOWING   COLLABORATION 

"  My  next  contribution  to   literature   was 
jointly  with  John  J.  Piatt,  the  poet,  who  had 


How  They  Succeeded 

worked  with  me  as  a  boy  in  the  printing-office 
at  Columbus.  We  met  in  Columbus,  where  I 
was  then  an  editor,  and  we  made  our  first 
literary  venture  together  in  a  volume  entitled, 
'  Poems  of  Two  Friends/  The  volume  be- 
came instantly  and  lastingly  unknown  to  fame; 
the  West  waited,  as  it  always  does,  to  hear 
what  the  East  should  say.  The  East  said  noth- 
ing, and  two-thirds  of  the  small  edition  of  five 
hundred  copies  came  back  upon  the  publisher's 
hands.  This  did  not  deter  me,  however,  from 
contributing  to  the  periodicals,  which  from 
time  to  time,  accepted  my  efforts. 

"  I  remained  as  an  editor,  in  Columbus,  until 
1 86 1,  when  I  was  appointed 

CONSUL   AT   VENICE. 

I  really  wanted  to  go  to  Germany,  that  I  might 
carry  forward  my  studies  in  German  litera- 
ture; and  I  first  applied  for  the  Consulate  at 
Munich.  The  powers  at  Washington  thought 
it  quite  the  same  thing  to  offer  me  Rome,  but 
I  found  that  the  income  of  the  Roman  Consul- 
ate would  not  give  me  a  living,  and  I  was 
forced  to  decline  it.  Then  the  President's  pri- 
vate secretaries,  Mr.  John  Nicolay  and  Mr. 
John  Hay,  who  did  not  know  me,  except  as  a 

180 


William  Dean  Howells 

young  Westerner  who  had  written  poems  in 
the  '  Atlantic  Monthly/  asked  me  how  I  would 
like  Venice,  promising  that  the  salary  would  be 
put  up  to  $1,000  a  year.  It  was  really  put  up 
to  $1,500,  and  I  accepted.  I  had  four  years  of 
nearly  uninterrupted  leisure  at  Venice." 

"  Was  it  easier,  when  you  returned  from 
Venice?" 

"  Not  at  all.  On  my  return  to  America,  my 
literary  life  took  such  form  that  most  of  my 
reading  was  done  for  review.  I  wrote  at  first 
a  good  many  of  the  lighter  criticisms  in  '  The 
Nation;  '  and  then  I  went  to  Boston,  to  become 
assistant  editor  of  '  The  Atlantic  Monthly/ 
where  I  wrote  the  literary  notices  for  that 
periodical  for  four  or  five  years;  then  I  became 
editor  until  1881.  And  I  have  had  some  sort  of 
close  relation  with  magazines  ever  since." 

"  Would  you  say  that  all  literary  success  is 
very  difficult  to  achieve?"  I  ventured. 

"  All  that  is  enduring." 

"  It  seems  to  me  ours  is  an  age  when  fame 
comes  quickly." 

"  Speaking  of  quickly  made  reputations," 
said  Mr.  Howells,  meditatively,  "  did  you  ever 
hear  of  Alexander  Smith  ?  He  was  a  poet  who, 
in  the  fifties,  was  proclaimed  immortal  by  the 

181 


How  They  Succeeded 

critics,  and  ranked  with  Shakespeare.  I  my- 
self read  him  with  an  ecstasy  which,  when  I 
look  over  his  work  to-day,  seems  ridiculous. 
His  poem,  '  Life-Drama/  was  heralded  as  an 
epic,  and  set  alongside  of  '  Paradise  Lost/  I 
cannot  tell  how  we  all  came  out  of  this  craze, 
but  the  reading  world  is  very  susceptible  to 
such  lunacies.  He  is  not  the  only  third-rate 
poet  who  has  been  thus  apotheosized,  before 
and  since.  You  might  have  envied  his  great 
success,  as  I  certainly  did;  but  it  was  not  suc- 
cess, after  all;  and  I  am  sure  that  real  success 
is  always  difficult  to  achieve." 

MY  LITERARY  EXPERIENCE 

"  Do  you  believe  that  success  comes  to  those 
who  have  a  special  bent  or  taste,  which  they 
cultivate  by  hard  work  ?  " 

"  I  can  only  answer  that  out  of  my  literary 
experience.  For  my  own  part,  I  believe  I  have 
never  got  any  good  from  a  book,  that  I  did  not 
read  merely  because  I  wanted  to  read  it.  I 
think  this  may  be  applied  to  anything  a  person 
does.  The  book,  I  know,  which  you  read  from 
a  sense  of  duty,  or  because  for  any  reason  you 
must,  is  apt  to  yield  you  little.  This,  I  think, 

182 


William  Dean  Howells 

is  also  true  of  everything,  and  the  endeavor 
that  does  one  good — and  lasting  good, — is  the 
endeavor  one  makes  with  pleasure.  Labor 
done  in  another  spirit  will  serve  in  a  way,  but 
pleasurable  labor  brings,  on  the  whole,  I  think, 
the  greatest  reward." 

Referring  again  to  his  early  years,  it  was  re- 
marked :  "  A  definite  literary  ambition  grew 
up  in  me;  and  in  the  long  reveries  of  the  after- 
noon, when  I  was  distributing  my  case  in  the 
printing-office,  I  fashioned  a  future  of  over- 
powering magnificence  and  undying  celebrity. 
I  should  be  ashamed  to  say  what  literary  tri- 
umphs I  achieved  in  those  preposterous  delir- 
iums. But  I  realize  now  that  such  dreams  are 
nerving,  and  sustain  one  in  an  otherwise  bar- 
ren struggle." 

"  Were  you  ever  tempted  and  willing  to 
abandon  your  object  of  a  literary  life  for  some- 
thing else?" 

"  I  was,  once.  My  first  and  only  essay 
aside  from  literature  was  in  the  realm  of  law. 
It  was  arranged  with  a  United  States  Senator 
that  I  should  study  law  in  his  office.  I  tried  it 
a  month,  but  almost  from  the  first  day,  I 
yearned  to  return  to  my  books.  /  had  not  only 


How  They  Succeeded 

to  go  back  to  literature,  but  to  the  printing- 
office,  and  I  gladly  chose  to  do  it, — a  step  I 
never  regretted" 


it  was  said  by  Mr.  Howells,  at  the  close  of  our 
interview : — 

"  I  have  come  to  see  life,  not  as  the  chase  of 
a  forever-impossible  personal  happiness,  but 
as  a  field  for  endeavor  toward  the  happiness  of 
the  whole  human  family.  There  is  no  other 
success.  I  know,  indeed,  of  nothing  more 
subtly  satisfying  and  cheering  than  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  real  good  will  and  appreciation  of 
others.  Such  happiness  does  not  come  with 
money,  nor  does  it  flow  from  a  fine  physical 
state.  It  cannot  be  bought.  But  it  is  the  keen- 
est joy,  after  all;  and  the  toiler's  truest  and 
best  reward." 


184 


XII 

JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 

THE  richest  man  in  the  United  States, 
John  Davidson  Rockefeller,  has  con- 
sented to  break  his  rule  never  to  talk 
for  publication;  and  he  has  told  me  the  story 
of  his  early  struggles  and  triumphs,  and  given 
utterance  to  some  strikingly  interesting  obser- 
vations anent  the  same.     In  doing  so,  he  was 
influenced  by  the  argument  that  there  is  some- 
thing  of   helpfulness,    of   inspiration,   in   the 
career  of  every  self-made  man. 

While  many  such  careers  have  been  prolific  of 
vivid  contrasts,  this  one  is  simply  marvelous. 
Whatever  may  be  said  by  political  economists 
of  the  dangers  of  vast  aggregations  of  wealth 
in  the  hands  of  the  few,  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion of  the  extraordinary  interest  attaching  to 
the  life  story  of  a  man  who  was  a  farm  laborer 
at  the  age  of  fifteen,  who  left  school  at  eighteen, 
because  he  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  care  for  his 


How  They  Succeeded 

mother  and  brother,  and  who,  at  the  zenith  of 
his  business  career,  has  endowed  Chicago  Uni- 
versity with  $7,500,000  out  of  a  fortune  esti- 
mated at  over  $300,000,000, — probably  the 
largest  single  fortune  on  earth. 

The  story  opens  in  a  fertile  valley  in  Tioga 
County,  New  York,  near  the  village  of  Rich- 
ford,  where  John  D.  Rockefeller  was  born  on 
his  father's  farm  in  July,  1838.  The  parents  of 
the  boy  were  church-going,  conscientious,  debt- 
abhorring  folk,  who  preferred  the  independence 
of  a  few  acres  to  a  mortgaged  domain.  They 
were  Americans  to  the  backbone,  intelligent, 
industrious  people,  not  very  poor  and  certainly 
not  very  rich,  for  at  fourteen  John  hired  out  to 
neighboring  farmers  during  the  summer 
months,  in  order  to  earn  his  way  and  not  be 
dependent  upon  those  he  loved.  His  father 
was  able  to  attend  to  the  little  farm  himself, 
and  thus  it  happened  that  the  youth  spent  sev- 
eral summers  away  from  home,  toiling  from 
sunrise  to  sunset,  and  sharing  the  humble  life 
of  the  people  he  served. 

HIS  EARLY  DREAM  AND  PURPOSE 

Did  the  tired  boy,  peering  from  his  attic  win- 
dow, ever  dream  of  his  future  ? 

186 


John   D.  Rockefeller 

He  said  to  a  youthful  companion  of  Rich- 
ford,  a  farmer's  boy  like  himself :  "  I  would 
like  to  own  all  the  land  in  this  valley,  as  far  as 
I  can  see.  I  sometimes  dream  of  wealth  and 
power.  Do  you  think  we  shall  ever  be  worth 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  you  and  I?  I 
hope  to, — some  day." 

Who  can  estimate  the  influence  such  a  life  as 
this  must  have  had  upon  the  future  multi-mil- 
lionaire? I  asked  Mr.  Rockefeller  about  this, 
and  found  him  enthusiastic  over  the  advan- 
tages which  he  had  received  from  his  rural  sur- 
roundings, and  full  of  faith  in  the  ability  of  the 
country  boy  to  surpass  his  city  cousin. 

"  To  my  mind,"  he  said,  "  there  is  something 
unfortunate  in  being  born  in  a  city.  Most 
young  men  raised  in  New  York  and  other  large 
centers  have  not  had  the  struggles  which  come 
to  us  who  were  reared  in  the  country.  It  is  a 
noticeable  fact  that  the  country  men  are  crowd- 
ing out  the  city  fellows  who  have  wealthy 
fathers.  They  are  willing  to  do  more  work  and 
go  through  more  for  the  sake  of  winning  suc- 
cess in  the  end.  Sons  of  wealthy  parents 
haven't  a  ghost  of  a  show  in  competition  with 
the  fellows  who  come  from  the  country  with  a 
determination  to  do  something  in  the  world." 

187 


How  They  Succeeded 

The  next  step  in  the  young  man's  life  was 
his  going  to  Cleveland,  Ohio,  in  his  sixteenth 
year. 

"  That  was  a  great  change  in  my  life,"  said 
he.  "  Going  to  Cleveland  was  my  first  experi- 
ence in  a  great  city,  and  I  shall  never  forget 
those  years.  I  began  work  there  as  an  office- 
boy,  and  learned  a  great  deal  about  business 
methods  while  filling  that  position.  But  what 
benefited  me  most  in  going  to  Cleveland  was 
the  new  insight  I  gained  as  to  what  a  great 
place  the  world  really  is.  I  had  plenty  of  am- 
bition then,  and  saw  that,  if  I  was  to  accom- 
plish much,  I  would  have  to  work  very,  very 
hard,  indeed." 

SCHOOL  DAYS 

He  found  time,  during  the  year  1854,  to  at- 
tend the  sessions  of  the  school  which  is  now 
known  as  the  Central  High  School.  It  was  a 
brick  edifice,  surrounded  by  grounds  which 
contained  a  number  of  hickory  trees.  It  has 
long  since  been  superseded  by  a  larger  and 
handsomer  building,  but  Andrew  J.  Freese,  the 
teacher,  is  still  living.  It  is  one  of  the  proud- 
est recollections  of  this  delightful  old  gentle- 
man's life  that  John  D.  Rockefeller  went  to 

188 


John  D.  Rockefeller 

school  with  him.    I  visited  him  at  his  residence 
in  Cleveland  the  other  day,  and  he  said : — 

"  John  was  one  of  the  best  boys  I  had.  He 
was  always  polite,  but  when  the  other  boys 
threw  hickory  clubs  at  him,  or  attempted  any 
undue  familiarities  with  him,  he  would  stop 
smiling  and  sail  into  them.  Young  Hanna — 
Marcus  A.  Hanna, — who  was  also  a  pupil, 
learned  this,  to  his  cost,  more  than  once,  and 
so  did  young  Jones,  the  present  Nevada  senator. 
I  have  had  several  very  distinguished  pupils, 
you  see,  and  one  of  my  girls  is  now  Mrs.  John 
D.  Rockefeller.  I  had  Edward  Wolcott,  the 
Colorado  senator,  later  on.  Yes,  John  was 
about  as  intelligent  and  well-behaved  a  chap  as 
I  ever  had.  Here  is  one  of  his  essays  which 
you  may  copy,  if  you  wish." 

Mr.  Rockefeller,  I  am  quite  sure,  will  pardon 
me  for  copying  his  composition  at  this  late  day, 
for  its  tone  and  subject  matter  reflect  credit 
upon  him : — 

"  Freedom  is  one  of  the  most  desirable  of  all 
blessings.  Even  the  smallest  bird  or  insect  loves 
to  be  free.  Take,  for  instance,  a  robin  that  has 
always  been  free  to  fly  from  tree  to  tree,  and 
sing  its  cheerful  song  from  day  to  day, — catch 
it,  and  put  it  into  a  cage  which  is  to  it  nothing 

189 


How  They  Succeeded 

less  than  a  prison,  and,  although  it  may  be  there 
tended  with  the  choicest  care,  yet  it  is  not  con- 
tent. How  eloquently  does  it  plead,  though  in 
silence,  for  liberty.  From  day  to  day  it  sits 
mournfully  upon  its  perch,  meditating,  as  it 
were,  some  way  for  its  escape,  and  when  at 
last  this  is  effected,  how  cheerfully  does  it  wing 
its  way  out  from  its  gloomy  prison-house  to 
sing  undisturbed  in  the  branches  of  the  first 
trees. 

"  If  even  the  birds  of  the  air  love  freedom,  is 
it  not  natural  that  man,  the  lord  of  creation, 
should?  I  reply  that  it  is,  and  that  it  is  a 
violation  of  the  laws  of  our  country,  and  the 
laws  of  our  God,  that  man  should  hold  his  fel- 
lowman  in  bondage.  Yet  how  many  thousands 
there  are  at  the  present  time,  even  in  our  own 
country,  who  are  bound  down  by  cruel  masters 
to  toil  beneath  the  scorching  sun  of  the  South. 
How  can  America,  under  such  circumstances, 
call  herself  free?  Is  it  extending  freedom  by 
granting  to  the  South  one  of  the  largest  di- 
visions of  land  that  she  possesses  for  the  pur- 
pose of  holding  slaves?  It  is  a  freedom  that, 
if  not  speedily  checked,  will  end  in  the  ruin 
of  our  country." 

It  was  greatly  to  the  regret  of  the  teacher 

190 


John  D.  Rockefeller 

that  John  came  to  him  one  day  to  announce  his 
purpose  to  leave  school.  Mr.  Freese  urged  him 
to  remain  two  years  longer,  in  order  that  he 
might  complete  the  course,  but  the  young  man 
told  him  he  felt  obliged  to  earn  more  money 
than  he  was  getting,  because  of  his  desire  to 
provide  for  his  mother  and  brother.  He  had 
received  an  offer,  he  said,  of  a  place  on  the 
freight  docks  as  a  bill  clerk,  and  this  job  would 
take  him  away  from  his  studies. 

A  RAFT  OF  HOOP  POLES 

A  short  time  afterwards,  when  Mr.  Freese 
visited  his  former  pupil  at  the  freight  dock,  he 
found  the  young  man  seated  on  a  bale  of  goods, 
bill  book  and  pencil  in  hand.  Pointing  to  a  raft 
of  hoop  poles  in  the  water,  John  told  his  caller 
that  he  had  purchased  them  from  a  Canadian 
who  had  brought  them  across  Lake  Erie,  ex- 
pecting to  sell  them.  Failing  in  this,  the  owner 
gladly  accepted  a  cash  offer  from  young  Rocke- 
feller, who  named  a  price  below  the  usual  mar- 
ket rates.  The  young  man  explained  that  he 
had  saved  a  little  money  out  of  his  wages,  and 
that  this  was  his  first  speculation.  He  after- 
wards told  Mr.  Freese  that  he  rafted  the  pur- 

191 


How  They  Succeeded 

chase  himself  to  a  flour  mill,  and  disposed  of 
his  bargain  at  a  profit  of  fifty  dollars.1 

THE  ODOR  OF  OIL 

It  was  Mr.  Freese,  too,  who  first  got  the 
young  man  interested  in  oil.  They  were  using 
sperm  oil  in  those  days,  at  a  dollar  and  a  half 
a  gallon.  Somebody  had  found  natural  petro- 
leum, thick,  slimy,  and  foul-smelling,  in  the 
Pennsylvania  creeks,  and  a  quantity  of  it  had 
been  received  in  Cleveland  by  a  next-door 
neighbor  of  the  schoolmaster.  The  neighbor 
thought  it  could  be  utilized  in  some  way,  but 
his  experiments  were  as  crude  as  the  ill-fa- 
vored stuff  itself.  These  consisted  of  boiling, 
burning,  and  otherwise  testing  the  oil,  and  the 
only  result  was  the  incurring  of  the  disfavor  of 
the  near-by  residents.  The  young  man  became 
interested  at  once.  He,  too,  experimented  with 

1  This  hoop  pole  story  is  matched  by  another,  related 
by  a  friend,  of  Rockefeller's  later  warehouse  days  in 
Cleveland.  He  one  day  bought  a  lot  of  beans.  He 
bought  them  cheap,  because  they  were  damaged.  In- 
stead of  selling  them  at  a  slight  advance,  as  most  dealers 
would  have  done,  he  spent  all  his  spare  time,  for  weeks, 
in  the  attic  of  his  warehouse,  sorting  over  those  beans 
He  took  out  all  the  blackened  and  injured  ones,  and  in 
the  end  he  got  a  fancy  price  for  the  remainder,  because 
they  were  of  extra  quality. 

192 


John  D.  Rockefeller 

the  black  slime,  draining  off  the  clearer  por- 
tions and  touching  matches  to  it.  The  flames 
were  sickly,  yellow,  and  malodorous. 

"  There  must  be  some  way  of  deodorizing 
this  oil"  said  John,  "  and  I  will  find  it.  There 
ought  to  be  a  good  sale  for  it  for  illuminating 
purposes,  if  the  good  oil  can  be  separated  from 
the  sediment,  and  that  awful  smell  gotten  rid 
of." 

How  well  the  young  man  profited  by  the  ac- 
cidental meeting  is  a  matter  of  history.  But 
I  am  digressing. 

HIS  FIRST  LEDGER,  AND  THE  ITEMS  IN  IT 

While  in  Cleveland,  slaving  away  at  his 
tasks,  Mr.  Rockefeller  was  training  himself  for 
the  more  busy  days  to  come.  He  kept  a  small 
ledger  in  which  he  entered  all  his  receipts  and 
expenditures,  and  I  had  the  privilege  of  exam- 
ining this  interesting  little  book,  and  having  its 
contents  explained  to  me.  It  was  nothing  more 
than  a  small,  paper-backed  memorandum  book. 

"  When  I  looked  this  book  up  the  other  day, 
I  thought  I  had  but  the  cover,"  said  Mr.  Rocke- 
feller, "  but,  on  examination,  I  perceived  that  I 
had  utilized  the  cover  to  write  on.  In  those 
days  I  was  very  economical,  just  as  I  am  eco- 


How  They  Succeeded 

nomical  now.  Economy  is  a  virtue.  I  hadn't 
seen  my  little  ledger  for  a  long  time,  when  I 
found  it  among  some  old  things.  It  is  more 
than  forty-two  years  ago  since  I  wrote  what  it 
contains.  I  called  it  *  Ledger  A,'  and  I  wouldn't 
exchange  it  now  for  all  the  ledgers  in  New 
York  city  and  their  contents.  A  glance  through 
it  shows  me  how  carefully  I  kept  account  of 
my  receipts  and  disbursements.  I  only  wish 
more  young  men  could  be  induced  to  keep  ac- 
counts like  this  nowadays.  It  would  go  far 
toward  teaching  them  the  value  of  money. 

"  Every  young  man  should  take  care  of  his 
money.  I  think  it  is  a  man's  duty  to  make  all 
the  money  he  can,  keep  all  he  can,  and  give 
away  all  he  can.  I  have  followed  this  principle 
religiously  all  my  life,  as  is  evidenced  in  this 
book.  It  tells  me  just  what  I  did  with  my  money 
during  my  first  few  years  in  business.  Between 
September,  1855,  and  January,  1856,  I  received 
just  fifty  dollars.  Out  of  this  sum  I  paid  for 
my  washing  and  my  board,  and  managed  to 
save  a  little  besides.  I  find,  in  looking  through 
the  book,  that  I  gave  a  cent  to  Sunday  school 
every  Sunday.  It  wasn't  much,  but  it  was  all 
that  I  could  afford  to  give  to  that  particular 
object.  What  I  could  afford  to  give  to  the 

194 


John  D.  Rockefeller 

various  religious  and  charitable  works,  I  gave 
regularly.  It  is  a  good  habit  for  a  young  man 
to  get  into. 

"  During  my  second  year  in  Cleveland,  I 
earned  twenty-five  dollars  a  month.  I  was  be- 
ginning to  be  a  capitalist,"  said  Mr.  Rocke- 
feller, "  and  I  suppose  I  ought  to  have  consid- 
ered myself  a  criminal  for  having  so  much 
money.  I  paid  all  my  own  bills  at  this  time, 
and  had  some  money  to  give  away.  I  also 
had  the  happiness  of  saving  some.  I  am  not 
sure,  but  I  was  more  independent  then  than 
now.  I  couldn't  buy  the  most  fashionable  cut 
of  clothing,  but  I  dressed  well  enough.  I  cer- 
tainly did  not  buy  any  clothes  I  couldn't  pay 
for,  as  some  young  men  do  that  I  know  of.  I 
didn't  make  any  obligations  I  could  not  meet, 
and  my  earnest  advice  is  for  every  young  man 
to  live  within  his  means.  One  of  the  swiftest 
'  toboggan  slides '  I  know  of,  is  for  a  young 
fellow  just  starting  out  into  the  world  to  go 
into  debt. 

"  During  the  time  between  November,  1855, 
and  April,  1856,  I  paid  out  just  nine  dollars 
and  nine  cents  for  clothing.  And  there  is  one 
item  that  was  certainly  extravagant  as  I  usu- 
ally wore  mittens  in  the  winter.  This  item  is 

'95 


How  They  Succeeded 

for  fur  gloves,  two  dollars  and  a  half.  In  this 
same  period  /  gave  away  five  dollars  and  fifty- 
eight  cents.  In  one  month  I  gave  to  foreign 
missions,  ten  cents,  to  the  mite  society,  fifty 
cents,  and  twelve  cents  to  the  Five  Points  Mis- 
sion, in  New  York.  I  wasn't  living  here  then, 
of  course,  but  I  suppose  I  thought  the  Mission 
needed  money.  These  little  contributions  of 
mine  were  not  large,  but  they  brought  me  into 
direct  contact  with  church  work,  and  that  has 
been  a  benefit  to  me  all  my  life.  It  is  a  mistake 
for  a  man  to  think  that  he  must  be  rich  to  help 
others." 

TEN  THOUSAND  DOLLARS 

He  earned  and  saved  ten  thousand  dollars 
before  he  was  twenty-five  years  old. 

Before  he  attained  his  majority,  Rockefeller 
formed  a  partnership  with  another  young  man 
named  Hewett,  and  began  a  warehouse  and 
produce  business.  This  was  the  natural  out- 
growth of  his  freight  clerkship  on  the  docks. 
In  five  years,  he  had  amassed  about  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  besides  earning  a  reputation  for 
business  capacity  and  probity. 


196 


John  D.  Rockefeller 

HE  REMEMBERED  THE  OIL 

He  never  forgot  those  experiments  with  the 
crude  oil.  Discoveries  became  more  and  more 
frequent  in  the  Pennsylvania  oil  territory. 
There  was  a  rush  of  speculators  to  the  new 
land  of  fortune.  Men  owning  impoverished 
farms  suddenly  found  themselves  rich.  Thou- 
sands of  excited  men  bid  wildly  against  each 
other  for  newly-shot  wells,  paying  fabulous 
sums  occasionally  for  dry  holes. 

KEEPING  HIS  HEAD 

John  D.  Rockefeller  looked  the  entire  field 
over  carefully  and  calmly.  Never  for  a  moment 
did  he  lose  his  head.  His  Cleveland  bankers  and 
business  friends  had  asked  him  to  purchase 
some  wells,  if  he  saw  fit,  offering  to  back  him 
up  with  $75,000  for  his  own  investment  [he 
was  worth  about  $10,000  at  the  time],  and  to 
put  in  $400,000  more  on  his  report. 

The  business  judgment  of  this  young  man 
at  twenty-five  was  so  good,  that  his  neighbors 
were  willing  to  invest  half  a  million  dollars  at 
his  bidding. 

He  returned  to  Cleveland  without  investing 
a  dollar.  Instead  of  joining  the  mad  crowd 

197 


How  They  Succeeded 

of  producers,  he  sagaciously  determined  to  be- 
gin at  the  other  end  of  the  business, — the  re- 
fining of  the  product. 

THERE  WAS  MORE  MONEY  IN  A  REFINERY 

The  use  of  petroleum  was  dangerous  at  that 
time,  on  account  of  the  highly  inflammable 
gases  it  contained.  Many  persons  stuck  to 
candles  and  sperm  oil  through  fear  of  an  ex- 
plosion if  they  used  the  new  illuminant.  The 
process  of  removing  these  superfluous  gases  by 
refining,  or  distilling,  as  it  was  then  called,  was 
in  its  infancy.  There  were  few  men  who  knew 
anything  about  it. 

Among  Rockefeller's  acquaintances  in  Cleve- 
land was  one  of  these  men.  His  name  was 
Samuel  Andrews.  He  had  worked  in  a  dis- 
tillery, and  was  familiar  with  the  process.  He 
believed  that  there  was  a  great  business  to  be 
built  up  by  removing  the  gases  from  the  crude 
oil  and  making  it  safe  for  household  use. 
Rockefeller  listened  to  him,  and  became  con- 
vinced that  he  was  right.  Here  was  a  field  as 
wide  as  the  world,  limited  only  by  the  produc- 
tion of  crude  oil.  It  was  a  proposition  on  which 
he  could  figure  and  make  sure  of  the  result.  It 
was  just  the  thing  Rockefeller  had  been  look- 

198 


John  D.  Rockefeller 

ing  for.  He  decided  to  leave  the  production  of 
oil  to  others,  and  to  devote  his  attention  to  pre- 
paring it  for  market. 

Andrews  was  a  brother  commission  mer- 
chant. The  two  started  a  refinery,  each  closing 
out  his  former  business  connection.  In  two 
weeks  it  was  running  night  and  day  to  fill  or- 
ders>  So  great  was  the  demand,  and  so  great 
was  the  judgment  of  young  Rockefeller, — see- 
ing what  no  one  else  had  seen. 

A  second  refinery  had  to  be  built  at  once,  and 
in  two  years  their  plants  were  turning  out  two 
thousand  barrels  of  refined  petroleum  per  day. 
Henry  M.  Flagler,  already  wealthy,  came  into 
the  firm,  the  name  of  which  then  became 
Rockefeller,  Flagler  and  Andrews.  More  re- 
fineries were  built,  not  only  at  Cleveland,  but 
also  at  other  advantageous  points.  Competing 
refineries  were  bought  or  rendered  ineffective 
by  the  cutting  of  prices. 

It  is  related  that  Mr.  Andrews  became  one 
day  dissatisfied,  and  he  was  asked, — "  What 
will  you  take  for  your  interest  ?  "  Andrews 
wrote  carelessly  on  a  piece  of  paper, — "  One 
million  dollars."  Within  twenty-four  hours  he 
was  handed  that  amount ;  Mr.  Rockefeller  say- 
ing,— "  Cheaper  at  one  million  than  ten."  In 

199 


How  They  Succeeded 

building  up  the  refinery  business  Rockefeller 
was  the  head;  the  others  were  the  hands.  He 
was  always  the  general  commanding,  the  tac- 
tician. He  made  the  plans  and  his  associates 
carried  them  out.  Here  was  the  post  for  which 
he  had  fitted  himself,  and  in  which  his  genius 
for  planning  had  full  sway.  In  the  conduct  of 
the  refinery  affairs,  as  in  every  enterprise  in 
which  he  has  taken  part,  he  exemplified  another 
rule  to  which  he  had  adhered  from  his  boyhood 
days.  He  was  the  leader  in  whatever  he  under- 
took. In  going  into  any  undertaking,  John  D. 
Rockefeller  has  made  it  his  rule  to  have  the 
chief  authority  in  his  own  hands  or  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  matter. 

STANDARD  OIL 

In  1870,  when  Mr.  Rockefeller  was  thirty- 
two  years  old,  the  business  was  merged  into  the 
Standard  Oil  Company,  starting  with  a  capital 
of  one  million  dollars.  Other  pens  have  writ- 
ten the  later  story  of  that  great  corporation; 
how  it  started  pipe  lines  to  carry  the  oil  to  the 
seaboard ;  how  it  earned  millions  in  by-products 
which  had  formerly  run  to  waste ;  how  it  cov- 
ered the  markets  of  the  world  in  its  keen  search 
for  trade,  distancing  all  competition,  and  cheap- 

200 


John  D.  Rockefeller 

ening  its  own  processes  so  that  its  dividends  in 
one  year,  1899,  amounted  to  $23,000,000  in 
excess  of  the  fixed  dividend  upon  the  whole 
capital  stock.  This  is  the  outcome  of  thirty 
years'  development.  The  corporation  is  now 
the  greatest  business  combination  of  modern 
times,  or  of  any  age  of  the  world.  Mr.  Rocke- 
feller's annual  income  from  his  holdings  of 
Standard  Oil  stock  is  estimated  at  about  sixteen 
millions  of  dollars. 

MR.  ROCKEFELLER'S  PERSONALITY 

The  brains  of  all  this,  the  owner  of  the  larg- 
est percentage  of  the  stock  in  the  parent  cor- 
poration, and  in  most  of  the  lesser  ones,  is  now 
sixty-two  years  old.  His  personality  is  simple 
and  unaffected,  his  tastes  domestic,  and  the 
trend  of  his  thoughts  decidedly  religious.  His 
Cleveland  residential  estate  is  superb,  covering 
a  large  tract  of  park-like  land, — but  even  there 
he  has  shown  his  unselfishness  by  donating  a 
large  portion  of  his  land  to  the  city  for  park 
purposes.  His  New  York  home  is  not  a  pre- 
tentious place, — solid,  but  by  no  means  elegant 
in  outward  appearance.  Between  the  two 
homes  he  divides  his  time  with  his  wife  and 
children.  He  is  an  earnest  and  hard-working 

201 


How  They  Succeeded 

member  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist  Church, 
in  New  York,  and  does  much  to  promote  the 
good  work  carried  on  by  that  organization.  He 
is  particularly  interested  in  the  Sunday-school 
work. 

AT  THE  OFFICE 

He  arises  early  in  the  morning,  at  his  home, 
and,  after  a  light  breakfast,  attends  to  some  of 
his  personal  affairs  there.  He  is  always  early 
on  hand  at  the  great  Standard  Oil  building  on 
lower  Broadway,  New  York,  and,  during  the 
day,  he  transacts  business  connected  with  the 
management  of  that  vast  corporation.  There 
is  hardly  one  of  our  business  men  of  whom  the 
public  at  large  knows  so  little.  He  avoids  pub- 
licity as  most  men  would  the  plague.  The  result 
is  that  he  is  the  only  one  of  our  very  wealthy 
men  who  maintains  the  reputation  of  being  dif- 
ferent from  the  ordinary  run  of  mortals.  To 
most  newspaper  readers,  he  is  a  man  of  mys- 
tery, a  sort  of  financial  wizard  who  sits  in  his 
office  and  heaps  up  wealth  after  the  fashion  of 
Aladdin  and  other  fairy-tale  heroes. 

All  this  is  wide  of  the  mark.  It  would  be 
hard  to  find  a  more  commonplace,  matter-of- 
fact  man  than  John  D.  Rockefeller.  His  tall 

2O2 


John  D.  Rockefeller 

form,  with  the  suggestion  of  a  stoop  in  it,  his 
pale,  thoughtful  face  and  reserved  manner, 
suggest  the  scholar  or  professional  man  rather 
than  an  industrial  Hercules  or  a  Napoleon  of 
finance.  He  speaks  in  a  slow,  deliberate  man- 
ner, weighing  each  word.  There  is  nothing 
impulsive  or  bombastic  about  him.  But  his 
conversation  impresses  one  as  consisting  of 
about  one  hundred  per  cent,  of  cold,  compact, 
boiled-down  common  sense. 

Here  is  to  be  noted  one  characteristic  of  the 
great  oil  magnate  which  has  helped  to  make 
him  what  he  is.  The  popular  idea  of  a  multi- 
millionaire is  a  man  who  has  taken  big  risks, 
and  has  come  out  luckily.  He  is  a  living  refu- 
tation of  this  conception.  He  is  careful  and 
cautious  by  nature,  and  he  has  made  these  traits 
habitual  for  a  lifetime;  he  conducts  all  his  af- 
fairs on  the  strictest  business  principles. 

FORESIGHT 

The  qualities  which  have  made  him  so  suc- 
cessful are  largely  those  which  go  to  the  mak- 
ing of  any  successful  business  man, — industry, 
thrift,  perseverance,  and  foresight.  Three  of 
these  qualities  would  have  made  him  a  rich 
man ;  the  last  has  distinguished  him  as  the  rich- 

203 


How  They  Succeeded 

est  man.  One  of  his  business  associates  said  of 
him,  the  other  day: — 

"  I  believe  the  secret  of  his  success,  so  far 
as  there  is  any  secret,  lies  in  power  of  foresight, 
which  often  seems  to  his  associates  to  be  won- 
derful. It  comes  simply  from  his  habit  of  look- 
ing at  every  side  of  a  question,  of  weighing  the 
favorable  and  unfavorable  features  of  a  situa- 
tion, and  of  sifting  out  the  inevitable  result 
through  his  unfailing  good  judgment." 

This  is  his  own  personal  statement,  put  into 
other  words,  so  it  may  be  accepted  as  true. 
The  encouraging  part  of  it  is  that,  while  such 
foresight  as  Rockefeller  displays  may  be  as- 
cribed partly  to  natural  endowment,  both  he 
and  his  friend  say  that  it  is  more  largely  a 
matter  of  habit,  made  effective  by  continual 
practice. 

HYGIENE 

At  noon  he  takes  a  very  simple  lunch  at  his 
club,  or  at  some  downtown  restaurant.  The 
lunch  usually  consists  of  a  bowl  of  bread  and 
milk.  He  remains  at  the  office  until  late  in  the 
afternoon,  and  before  dinner  he  takes  some 
exercise.  In  winter,  he  skates  when  possible. 
And  at  other  seasons  of  the  year  he  nearly  al- 

204 


John  D.  Rockefeller 

ways  drives  in  the  park  or  on  the  avenues. 
Mr.  Rockefeller  has  great  faith  in  fresh  air  as  a 
tonic. 

AT  HOME 

The  evenings  are  nearly  always  spent  at 
home,  for  neither  Mr.  Rockefeller  nor  any  of 
the  children  are  fond  of  "  society,"  as  the  word 
is  understood  in  New  York.  The  children 
seem  to  have  inherited  many  of  their  father's 
sensible  ideas,  and  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  has 
apparently  escaped  the  fate  of  most  rich  men's 
sons.  He  has  a  deep  sense  of  responsibility  as 
the  heir-apparent  to  so  much  wealth ;  and,  since 
his  graduation  from  college,  he  has  devoted 
himself  to  a  business  career,  starting  at  the  bot- 
tom and  working  upward,  step  by  step.  It  is 
now  generally  known  that  he  has  been  very 
successful  in  his  business  ventures,  and  he  bids 
fair  to  become  a  worthy  successor  to  his  father. 
He  is  now  actively  engaged  in  important  phil- 
anthropic enterprises  in  New  York.  Miss  Bes- 
sie became  the  wife  of  a  poor  clergyman  of 
the  Baptist  Church  in  Cleveland;  while  Miss 
Alta  is  married  to  a  prominent  young  business 
man  in  Chicago. 

205 


How  They  Succeeded 

PHILANTHROPY 

Mr.  Rockefeller  has  during  many  years 
turned  over  to  his  children  a  great  many  letters 
from  needy  people,  asking  them  to  exercise 
their  own  judgment  in  distributing  charities. 

While  he  has  himself  given  away  millions 
for  education  and  charity,  he  would  have  given 
more  were  it  not  for  his  dread  of  seeming  os- 
tentatious. But  he  never  gives  indiscriminately, 
nor  out  of  hand.  When  a  charity  appeals  to 
him,  he  investigates  it  thoroughly,  just  as  he 
would  a  business  scheme.  If  he  decides  that 
its  object  is  worthy,  he  gives  liberally;  other- 
wise, not  a  cent  can  be  got  out  of  him. 

It  may  be  imagined  that  such  a  man  is  busy 
to  the  full  limit  of  his  working  capacity.  This 
is  true.  He  is  too  busy  for  any  of  the  pastimes 
and  pleasures  in  which  most  wealthy  men  seek 
diversion.  He  is  thoroughly  devoted  to  his 
home  and  family,  and  spends  as  much  as  possi- 
ble of  his  time  with  them.  He  is  a  man  who 
views  life  seriously,  but  in  his  quiet  way  he  can 
get  as  much  enjoyment  out  of  a  good  story  or 
a  meeting  with  an  old  friend  as  can  any  other 
man. 

206 


John  D.  Rockefeller 

PERSEVERANCE 

When  I  asked  Mr.  Rockefeller  what  he  con- 
siders has  most  helped  him  in  obtaining  success 
in  business,  he  answered :  "It  was  early  train- 
ing, and  the  fact  that  I  was  willing  to  perse- 
vere. I  do  not  think  there  is  any  other  quality 
so  essential  to  success  of  any  kind  as  the  quality 
of  perseverance.  It  overcomes  almost  every- 
thing, even  nature." 

It  is  to  be  said  of  his  business  enterprises, 
looking  at  them  in  a  large  way,  that  he  has 
given  to  the  world  good  honest  oil,  of  standard 
quality;  that  his  employees  are  always  well 
paid;  that  he  has  given  away  more  money  in 
benevolence  than  any  other  business  man  in 
America.  And  everything  about  the  man  in- 
dicates that  he  is  likely  to  "persevere  "  in  the 
course  he  has  so  long  pursued,  turning  his 
vast  wealth  into  institutes  for  public  service. 

A  GENIUS  FOR  MONEY  MAKING 

"  There  are  men  born  with  a  genius  for 
money-making,"  says  Mathews.  "  They  have 
the  instinct  of  accumulation.  The  talent  and 
the  inclination  to  convert  dollars  into  doubloons 
by  bargains  or  shrewd  investments  are  in  them 
just  as  strongly  marked  and  as  uncontrollable 

207 


How  They  Succeeded 

as  were  the  ability  and  the  inclination  of 
Shakespeare  to  produce  Hamlet  and  Othello, 
of  Raphael  to  paint  his  cartoons,  of  Beethoven 
to  compose  his  symphonies,  or  Morse  to  invent 
an  electric  telegraph.  As  it  would  have  been  a 
gross  dereliction  of  duty,  a  shameful  perversion 
of  gifts,  had  these  latter  disregarded  the  in- 
stincts of  their  genius  and  engaged  in  the 
scramble  for  wealth,  so  would  a  Rothschild,  an 
Astor,  and  a  Peabody  have  sinned  had  they 
done  violence  to  their  natures,  and  thrown  their 
energies  into  channels  where  they  would  have 
proved  dwarfs  and  not  giants." 

The  opportunity  which  came  to  young 
Rockefeller  does  not  occur  many  times  in  many 
ages:  and  in  a  generous  interpretation  of  his 
opportunity  he  has  already  invested  a  great 
deal  of  his  earnings  in  permanently  useful 
philanthropies. 


208 


XIII 

The  Author  of  the  Battle  Hymn 
of  the  Republic— Her  Views 
of  Education  for  Young  Wo- 
men 

A  POET,  author,  lecturer,  wit  and  con- 
versationalist, Mrs.  Julia  Ward  Howe 
unites  with  the  attributes  of  a  tender, 
womanly  nature — which  has  made  her  the  idol 
of  her  husband  and  children — the  sterner  vir- 
tues of  a  reformer;  the  unflinching  courage 
which  dares  to  stand  with  a  small  minority  in 
the  cause  of  right;  the  indomitable  persever- 
ance and  force  of  character  which  persist  in  the 
demand  for  justice  in  face  of  the  determined 
opposition  of  narrow  prejudice  and  old-time 
conservatism. 

Although  more  Bostonian  than  the  Boston- 
ians  themselves,  Mrs.  Howe  first  saw  the  light 
in  New  York,  and  has  spent  much  of  her  later 

209 


How  They  Succeeded 

life  at  Newport.  Born  in  1819,  in  a  stately 
mansion  near  the  Bowling  Green,  then  the  most 
fashionable  quarter  of  New  York,  she  was  the 
fourth  child  of  Samuel  Ward  and  Julia  Cutler 
Ward,  people  of  unusual  culture,  refinement, 
and  high  ideals.  Mr.  Ward  was  a  man  of  spot- 
less honor  and  business  integrity;  and,  al- 
though not  wealthy  as  compared  with  the  mil- 
lionaires of  to-day,  his  fortune  was  ample 
enough  to  surround  his  wife  and  children  with 
all  the  luxuries  and  refinements  that  the  most 
fastidious  nature  could  crave.  Mrs.  Ward  pos- 
sessed a  rare  combination  of  personal  charms 
and  mental  gifts,  which  endeared  her  to  all  who 
had  the  privilege  of  knowing  her.  All  too  soon, 
the  death  angel  came  and  bore  away  the  lovely 
young  wife  and  mother,  then  in  her  twenty- 
eighth  year. 

Rousing  himself,  with  a  great  effort,  from 
the  grief  into  which  the  death  of  his  wife  had 
plunged  him,  Mr.  Ward  devoted  himself  to  the 
training,  and  education  of  his  children.  Far 
in  advance  of  his  age  in  the  matter  of  higher 
education  for  women  he  selected  as  the  tutor 
of  his  daughters  the  learned  Doctor  Joseph 
Green  Cogswell,  with  instruction  to  teach 
them  the  full  curriculum  of  Harvard  college. 

210 


Mrs.  Julia  Ward  Howe 

"  LITTLE  MISS  WARD  " 

The  scholarly  and  refined  atmosphere  of  her 
father's  home,  which  was  the  resort  of  the  most 
distinguished  men  of  letters  of  the  day,  was  an 
admirable  school  for  the  development  of  the 
literary  and  philosophic  mind  of  the  "  little 
Miss  Ward,"  as  Mr.  Ward's  eldest  daughter 
had  been  called  from  childhood. 

Learned  even  beyond  advanced  college 
graduates  of  to-day,  an  accomplished  linguist, 
a  musical  amateur  of  great  promise,  the  young 
and  beautiful  Miss  Julia  Ward,  of  Bond  street, 
soon  became  a  leader  of  the  cultured  and  fash- 
ionable circle  in  which  she  moved.  In  the 
series,  "  Authors  at  Home,"  by  M.  C.  Sher- 
wood, we  get  a  glimpse  of  her,  about  that  time, 
in  a  whimsical  entry  from  the  diary  of  a  Miss 
Hamilton,  written  at  the  time  of  the  return 
of  Doctor  Howe,  from  Greece,  whither  he  had 
gone  to  fight  the  Turks : — 

"  I  walked  down  Broadway  with  all  the 
fashion  and  met  the  pretty  blue  stocking,  Miss 
Julia  Ward,  with  her  admirer,  Doctor  Howe, 
just  home  from  Europe.  She  had  on  a  blue 
satin  cloak  and  a  white  muslin  dress.  I  looked 
to  see  if  she  had  on  blue  stockings,  but  I  think 

21  I 


How  They  Succeeded 

not.  I  suspect  that  her  stockings  were  pink, 
and  she  wore  low  slippers,  as  grandmamma 
does.  They  say  she  dreams  in  Italian  and 
quotes  French  verses.  She  sang  very  prettily 
at  a  party  last  evening.  I  noticed  how  white 
her  hands  were.  Still,  though  attractive,  the 
muse  is  not  handsome." 

SHE   MARRIED  A  REFORMER 

Soon  after  the  loss  of  her  father,  in  1839, 
Miss  Ward  paid  the  first  of  a  series  of  visits  to 
Boston,  where  she  met,  among  other  distin- 
guished people  who  became  life-long  friends, 
Sarah  Margaret  Fuller,  Horace  Mann,  Charles 
Sumner,  and  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson.  In  1843 
she  was  married  to  the  director  of  the  institute 
for  the  blind,  in  South  Boston,  the  physician 
and  reformer,  Doctor  Samuel  G.  Howe,  of 
whom  Sydney  Smith  spoke — referring  to  the 
remarkable  results  attained  in  his  education  of 
Laura  Bridgman, — as  "  a  modern  Pygmalion 
who  has  put  life  into  a  statue."  Immediately 
aftei  their  marriage,  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Howe 
sailed  for  Europe,  making  London  their  first 
stopping  place.  There  they  met  many  famous 
men  and  women,  among  them  Charles  Dickens, 

212 


Mrs.  Julia  Ward  Howe 

Thomas  Carlyle,  Sydney  Smith,  Thomas 
Moore,  the  Duchess  of  Sutherland,  John  For- 
ster,  Samuel  Rogers,  Richard  Monckton 
Milnes,  and  many  others.  After  an  extensive 
continental  tour,  including  the  Netherlands, 
Switzerland,  Germany,  France,  and  Italy,  Doc- 
tor and  Mrs.  Howe  returned  home  and  took  up 
their  residence  in  South  Boston. 

One  of  her  friends  has  said :  "  Mrs.  Howe 
wrote  leading  articles  from  her  cradle ;  "  and  it 
is  true  that  at  seventeen,  at  least,  she  was  an 
anonymous  but  valued  contributor  to  the  New 
York  Magazine,  then  a  prominent  periodical. 
In  1854  ,  her  first  volume  of  poems  was  pub- 
lished. She  named  it  "  Passion  Flowers,"  and 
the  Boston  world  of  letters  hailed  her  as  a  new 
poet.  Though  published  anonymously,  the 
volume  at  once  revealed  its  author;  and  Mrs. 
Howe  was  welcomed  into  the  poetic  fraternity 
by  such  shining  lights  as  Emerson,  Whittier, 
Longfellow,  Bryant,  and  Holmes.  The  poem 
by  which  the  author  will  be  forever  enshrined 
in  her  country's  memory  is,  par  excellence, 
"  The  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic,"  which, 
like  Kipling's  "  Recessional,"  sang  itself  at 
once  into  the  heart  of  the  nation.  As  any 
sketch  of  Mrs.  Howe  would  be  incomplete 

213 


How  They  Succeeded 

without  the  story  of  the  birth  of  this  great 
song  of  America,  it  is  here  given  in  brief. 

STORY    OF    THE    "  BATTLE    HYMN    OF    THE    RE- 
PUBLIC " 

It  was  in  the  first  year  of  our  Civil  War  that 
Mrs.  Howe,  in  company  with  her  husband  and 
friends,  visited  Washington.  During  their 
stay  in  that  city,  the  party  went  to  see  a  review 
of  troops,  which,  however,  was  interrupted  by 
a  movement  of  the  enemy,  and  had  to  be  put 
off  for  the  day.  The  carriage  in  which  Mrs. 
Howe  was  seated  with  her  friends  was  sur- 
rounded by  armed  men;  and,  as  they  rode 
along,  she  began  to  sing,  to  the  great  delight 
of  the  soldiers,  "  John  Brown."  "  Good  for 
you !  "  shouted  the  boys  in  blue,  who,  with  a 
will,  took  up  the  refrain.  Mrs.  Howe  then 
began  conversing  with  her  friends  on  the  mo- 
mentous events  of  the  hour,  and  expressed  the 
strong  desire  she  felt  to  write  some  words 
which  might  be  sung  to  this  stirring  tune,  add- 
ing that  she  feared  she  would  never  be  able  to 
do  so.  "  She  went  to  sleep,"  says  her  daugh- 
ter, Maude  Howe  Eliot,  "  full  of  thoughts  of 
battle,  and  awoke  before  dawn  the  next  morn- 
ing to  find  the  desired  verses  immediately  pres- 

2I4 


Mrs.  Julia  Ward  Howe 

ent  to  her  mind.  She  sprang  from  her  bed, 
and  in  the  dim  gray  light  found  a  pen,  and 
paper,  whereon  she  wrote,  scarcely  seeing 
them,  the  lines  of  the  poem.  Returning  to  her 
couch,  she  was  soon  asleep,  but  not  until  she 
had  said  to  herself,  '  I  like  this  better  than  any- 
thing I  have  ever  written  before/  " 


Of  Mrs.  Howe  it  may  very  fittingly  be  said 
that  she  is  eighty  years  young.  Her  blue  eye 
retains  its  brightness,  and  her  dignified  car- 
riage betokens  none  of  the  feebleness  of  age. 
Above  all,  her  mind  seems  to  hold,  in  a  marvel- 
ous degree,  its  youthful  vigor  and  elasticity; 
a  fact  that  especially  impressed  me  as  the  au- 
thor of  "  The  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic  " 
expressed  her  views  on  the  desirability  of  a  col- 
lege training  for  girls. 

"  The  girls  who  go  to  college,"  said  Mrs. 
Howe,  "  are  very  much  in  request,  I  should  say 
for  everything, — certainly  for  teaching.  Then, 
naturally,  if  they  wish  to  follow  literature,  they 
have  a  very  great  advantage  over  those  who 
have  not  had  the  benefit  of  a  college  course, 
having  a  liberal  education  to  begin  with." 

2IS 


How  They  Succeeded 

"  Which  is  the  greater  advantage  to  a  girl, 
to  have  talent  or  great  perseverance?  " 

"  In  order  to  accomplish  anything  really 
worth  doing,  I  think  great  perseverance  is  of 
the  first  importance.  On  the  other  hand,  one 
cannot  do  a  great  deal  without  talent,  while 
special  talent  without  perseverance  never 
amounts  to  much.  I  once  heard  Mr.  Emerson 
say,  '  Genius  without  character  is  mere  f  riski- 
ness ; '  and  we  all  know  of  highly  gifted  people, 
who,  because  lacking  the  essential  quality  of 
perseverance,  accomplish  very  little  in  the 
world." 

"  Do  you  think  the  college  girl  will  exercise 
a  greater  influence  on  modern  progress  and  the 
civilization  of  the  future  than  her  untrained 
sister?" 

"  Oh,  very  much  greater,"  was  the  quick, 
emphatic  reply.  "  In  the  first  place,  I  think 
that  college-bred  girls  are  quite  as  likely  to 
marry  as  others,  and  when  a  college  girl  mar- 
ries, then  the  whole  family  is  lifted  to  a  higher 
plane,  the  natural  result  of  the  well-trained, 
cultivated  mind.  Mothers  of  old,  you  know, 
were  very  ignorant.  Indeed,  it  is  sad  to  think 
what  few  advantages  they  had.  Of  course, 
some  of  them  had  opportunities  to  study  alone, 

216 


Mrs.  Julia  Ward  Howe 

but  this  solitary  study  could  not  accomplish 
for  them  what  the  colleges,  with  their  corps  of 
specialists  and  trained  professors,  are  doing 
for  the  young  women  of  to-day." 

THE   IDEAL    COLLEGE 

Speaking  of  the  advantages  and  disadvan- 
tages of  coeducational  institutions,  Mrs.  Howe 
said : — 

"  While  there  are  many  advantages  in  co- 
education, there  are  also  some  dangers.  The 
great  advantage  consists  in  the  mingling  of 
both  sorts  of  mind,  the  masculine  and  the  fem- 
inine. This  gives  a  completeness  that  cannot 
otherwise  be  obtained.  I  have  observed  that 
when  committees  are  made  up  of  both  men  and 
women,  we  get  a  roundness  and  completeness 
that  are  lacking  when  the  membership  is  com- 
posed of  either  sex  alone;  and  so  in  college 
recitations,  where  the  boys  present  their  side 
and  the  girls  theirs,  we  get  better  results.  This, 
of  course,  is  natural.  Fortunately,  so  far, 
scandals  have  been  very  rare,  if  found  at  all, 
in  coeducation  at  colleges.  Many  people,  how- 
ever, would  not  care  to  trust  their  children, 
nor  would  we  send  every  girl,  to  such  colleges ; 
and,  for  this  reason,  I  am  glad  that  we  have 

217 


How  They  Succeeded 

women's  colleges.  I  think,  however,  that,  if 
the  students  are  at  all  earnest,  and  have  high 
ideals  set  before  them,  the  coeducational  is  the 
ideal  college;  for  the  course  in  these  colleges 
is  like  a  great  intellectual  race,  which  arouses 
and  stimulates  all  the  nobler  faculties." 

"  What  influence  do  you  think  environment 
has  on  one's  career, — on  success  in  life  ?  " 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  environment  ?  " 

"  Well,  I  mean  especially  the  sort  of  people 
with  whom  one  is  associated;  their  order  of 
mind?" 

"  I  think  it  has  a  very  important  effect.  If 
we  are  kept  perpetually  under  lowering  influ- 
ences— lowering  both  morally  and  aesthetically, 
— the  tendency  will  inevitably  be  to  drag  us 
down.  I  say  aesthetically,  because  I  think  in 
that  sense  good  taste  is  a  part  of  good  morals. 
You  can,  of  course,  have  good  taste  without 
good  morals ;  but  with  morality  there  is  a  cer- 
tain feeling  or  measure  of  reserve  and  nicety 
which  does  not  accompany  good  taste  without 
good  morals.  You  know  St.  Paul  says :  '  Evil 
communications  corrupt  good  manners/  That 
is  as  true  to-day  as  it  ever  was.  We  can't  al- 
ways be  with  our  equals  or  our  superiors,  how- 
ever; we  must  take  people  as  we  find  them. 

218 


Mrs.  Julia  Ward  Howe 

But  we  should  try  to  be  with  people  who  stand 
for  high  things,  morally  and  intellectually. 
Then,  when  we  have  to  be  among  people  of  a 
lower  grade,  we  can  help  them,  because  I  think 
human  nature,  on  the  whole,  desires  to  be  ele- 
vated rather  than  lowered." 

"  Do  you  think  it  is  necessary  to  success  in 
life  to  have  a  special  aim  ?  " 

"  I  think  it  is  a  great  thing  to  have  a  special 
aim  or  talent,  and  it  is  better  to  make  one  thing 
the  leading  interest  in  life  than  to  run  after 
half-a-dozen." 


219 


XIV 

A  TALK  WITH  EDISON 

DRAMATIC  INCIDENTS  IN   HIS  EARLY  LIFE 

TO  discover  the  opinion  of  Thomas  A. 
Edison  concerning  what  makes  and 
constitutes  success  in  life  is  an  easy 
matter — if  one  can  first  discover  Mr.  Edison. 
I  camped  three  weeks  in  the  vicinity  of  Orange, 
N.  J.,  awaiting  the  opportunity  to  come  upon 
the  great  inventor  and  voice  my  questions.  It 
seemed  a  rather  hopeless  and  discouraging 
affair  until  he  was  really  before  me ;  but,  truth 
to  say,  he  is  one  of  the  most  accessible  of  men, 
and  only  reluctantly  allows  himself  to  be  hedged 
in  by  pressure  of  endless  affairs. 

"  Mr.  Edison  is  always  glad  to  see  any  visi- 
tor," said  a  gentleman  who  is  continually  with 
him,  "  except  when  he  is  hot  on  the  trail  of 
something  he  has  been  working  for,  and  then 
it  is  as  much  as  a  man's  head  is  worth  to  come 
in  on  him." 

He  certainly  was  not  hot  on  the  trail  of  any- 
thing on  the  morning  when,  for  the  tenth  time, 

220 


Thomas  A.  Edison 

I  rang  at  the  gate  in  the  fence  which  surrounds 
the  laboratory  on  Valley  Road,  Orange.  A 
young  man  appeared,  who  conducted  me  up 
the  walk  to  the  Edison  laboratory  office. 

THE   LIBRARY 

is  a  place  not  to  be  passed  through  with- 
out thought,  for,  with  a  further  store  of  vol- 
umes in  his  home,  it  contains  one  of  the  most 
costly  and  well-equipped  scientific  libraries  in 
the  world;  the  collection  of  writings  on  patent 
laws  and  patents,  for  instance,  is  absolutely 
exhaustive.  It  gives,  at  a  glance,  an  idea  of 
the  breadth  of  thought  and  sympathy  of  this 
man  who  grew  up  with  scarcely  a  common 
school  education. 

On  the  second  floor,  in  one  of  the  offices  of 
the  machine-shop,  I  was  asked  to  wait,  while  a 
grimy  youth  disappeared  with  my  card,  which 
he  said  he  would  "  slip  under  the  door  of  Mr. 
Edison's  office." 

"  Curious,"  I  thought ;  "  what  a  lord  this 
man  must  be  if  they  dare  not  even  knock  at  his 
door!" 

Thinking  of  this  and  gazing  out  the  window, 
I  waited  until  a  working  man,  who  had  entered 
softly,  came  up  beside  me.  He  looked  with  a 

221 


How  They  Succeeded 

sort  of  "  Well,  what  is  it  ?  "  in  his  eyes,  and 
quickly  it  began  to  come  to  me  that  the  man  in 
the  sooty,  oil-stained  clothes  was  Edison  him- 
self. The  working  garb  seemed  rather  incon- 
gruous, but  there  was  no  mistaking  the  broad 
forehead,  with  its  shock  of  blackish  hair 
streaked  with  gray.  The  gray  eyes,  too,  were 
revelations  in  the  way  of  alert  comprehensive- 
ness. 

"  Oh !  "  was  all  I  could  get  out  at  the  time. 

"  Want  to  see  me  ?  "  he  said,  smiling  in  the 
most  youthful  and  genial  way. 

"  Why, — yes,  certainly,  to  be  sure,"  1  stam- 
mered. 

He  looked  at  me  blankly. 

"  You'll  have  to  talk  louder,"  said  an  as- 
sistant who  worked  in  another  portion  of  the 
room ;  "  he  don't  hear  well." 

This  fact  was  new  to  me,  but  I  raised  my 
voice  with  celerity,  and  piped  thereafter  in  an 
exceedingly  shrill  key.  After  the  usual  hum- 
drum opening  remarks,  in  which  he  acknowl- 
edged his  age  as  fifty-two  years,  and  that  he 
was  born  in  Erie  county,  O.,  of  Dutch  parent- 
age, the  family  having  emigrated  to  America 
in  1730,  the  particulars  began  to  grow  more 
interesting. 

222 


Thomas  A.  Edison 

His  great-grandfather,  I  learned,  was  a 
banker  of  high  standing  in  New  York;  and, 
when  Thomas  was  but  a  child  of  seven  years, 
the  family  fortune  suffered  reverses  so  serious 
as  to  make  it  necessary  that  he  should  become  a 
wage-earner  at  an  unusually  early  age,  and 
that  the  family  should  move  from  his  birth- 
place to  Michigan. 

"  Did  you  enjoy  mathematics  as  a  boy  ?  "  I 
asked. 

"  Not  much/'  he  replied.  "  I  tried  to  read 
Newton's  '  Principia/  at  the  age  of  eleven. 
That  disgusted  me  with  pure  mathematics,  and 
I  don't  wonder  now.  I  should  not  have  been 
allowed  to  take  up  such  serious  work." 
'  You  were  anxious  to  learn  ?  " 

"Yes,  indeed,  /  attempted  to  read  through 
the  entire  Free  Library  at  Detroit,  but  other 
things  interfered  before  I  had  done." 

A    CHEMICAL   NEWSBOY 

"  Were  you  a  book-worm  and  dreamer?  "  I 
questioned. 

"  Not  at  all,"  he  answered,  using  a  short, 
jerky  method,  as  though  he  were  unconsciously 
checking  himself  up.  "  I  became  a  newsboy, 

223 


How  They  Succeeded 

and  liked  the  work.  Made  my  first  coup  as  a 
newsboy  in  1869." 

"  What  was  it?  "  I  ventured. 

"  I  bought  up  on  '  futures  '  a  thousand  copies 
of  the  Detroit  Free  Press  containing  im- 
portant war  news, — gained  a  little  time  on  my 
rivals,  and  sold  the  entire  batch  like  hot  cakes. 
The  price  reached  twenty-five  cents  a  paper 
before  the  end  of  the  route,"  and  he  laughed. 
"  I  ran  the  Grand  Trunk  Herald,  too,  at  that 
time — a  little  paper  I  issued  from  the  train/' 

"  When  did  you  begin  to  be  interested  in  in- 
vention?" I  questioned. 

"Well,"  he  said,  "I  began  to  dabble  in 
chemistry  at  that  time.  I  fitted  up  a  small 
laboratory  on  the  train." 

In  reference  to  this,  Mr.  Edison  subsequently 
admitted  that,  during  the  progress  of  some  oc- 
cult experiments  in  this  workshop,  certain 
complications  ensued  in  which  a  jolted  and 
broken  bottle  of  sulphuric  acid  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  conductor.  He,  who  had  been 
long  suffering  in  the  matter  of  unearthly  odors, 
promptly  ejected  the  young  devotee  and  all  his 
works.  This  incident  would  have  been  only 
amusing  but  for  its  relation  to,  and  explanation 
of,  his  deafness.  A  box  on  the  ear,  adminis- 

224 


Thomas  A.  Edison 

tered  by  the  irate  conductor,  caused  the  lasting 
deafness. 

TELEGRAPHY 

"  What  was  your  first  work  in  a  practical 
line?  "  I  went  on. 

"  A  telegraph  line  between  my  home  and 
another  boy's,  I  made  with  the  help  of  an  old 
river  cable,  some  stove-pipe  wire,  and  glass- 
bottle  insulators.  I  had  my  laboratory  in  the 
cellar  and  studied  telegraphy  outside." 

"  What  was  the  first  really  important  thing 
you  did?" 

"  I  saved  a  boy's  life." 

"How?" 

"  The  boy  was  playing  on  the  track  near  the 
depot.  I  saw  he  was  in  danger  and  caught 
him,  getting  out  of  the  way  just  in  time.  His 
father  was  station-master,  and  taught  me  tele- 
graphy in  return." 

Dramatic  situations  appear  at  every  turn  of 
this  man's  life.  He  seems  to  have  been  con- 
tinually arriving  on  the  scene  at  critical  mo- 
ments, and  always  with  the  good  sense  to  take 
things  in  his  own  hands.  The  chance  of  learn- 
ing telegraphy  only  gave  him  a  chance  to  show 
how  apt  a  pupil  he  was,  and  the  railroad  com- 

225 


How  They  Succeeded 

pany  soon  gave  him  regular  employment.  At 
seventeen,  he  had  become  one  of  the  most  ex- 
pert operators  on  the  road. 

"  Did  you  make  much  use  of  your  inventive 
talent  at  this  time?  "  I  questioned. 

"  Yes,"  he  answered.  "  I  invented  an  au- 
tomatic attachment  for  my  telegraph  instru- 
ment which  would  send  in  the  signal  to  show  I 
was  awake  at  my  post,  when  I  was  comfortably 
snoring  in  a  corner.  I  didn't  do  much  of  that, 
though,"  he  went  on;  "  for  some  such  boyish 
trick  sent  me  in  disgrace  over  the  line  into  Can- 
ada." 

"  Were  you  there  long?  " 

"  Only  a  winter.  If  it's  incident  you  want, 
I  can  tell  you  one  of  that  time.  The  place 
where  I  was  and  Sarnier,  the  American  town, 
were  cut  off  from  telegraphic  and  other  means 
of  communication  by  the  storms,  until  I  got  at 
a  locomotive  whistle  and  tooted  a  telegraphic 
message.  I  had  to  do  it  again  and  again,  but 
eventually  they  understood  over  the  water  and 
answered  in  the  same  way." 

According  to  his  own  and  various  recorded 
accounts,  Edison  was  successively  in  charge  of 
important  wires  in  Memphis,  Cincinnati,  New 
Orleans,  and  Louisville.  He  lived  in  the  free- 

226 


Thomas  A.  Edison 

and-easy  atmosphere  of  the  tramp  operators — 
a  boon  companion  with  them,  yet  absolutely 
refusing  to  join  in  the  dissipations  to  which 
they  were  addicted.  So  highly  esteemed  was 
he  for  his  honesty,  that  it  was  the  custom  of  his 
colleagues,  when  a  spree  was  on  hand,  to  make 
him  the  custodian  of  those  funds  which  they 
felt  obliged  to  save.  On  a  more  than  usually 
hilarious  occasion,  one  of  them  returned  rather 
the  worse  for  wear,  and  knocked  the  treasurer 
down  on  his  refusal  to  deliver  the  trust  money ; 
the  other  depositors,  we  may  be  glad  to  note, 
gave  the  ungentlemanly  tippler  a  sound  thrash- 
ing. 

HIS   USE   OF    MONEY 

"  Were  you  good  at  saving  your  own 
money?  "  I  asked. 

"  No/'  he  said,  smiling.  "  I  never  was 
much  for  saving  money,  as  money.  I  devoted 
every  cent,  regardless  of  future  needs,  to 
scientific  books  and  materials  for  experi- 
ments.'' 

"  You  believe  that  an  excellent  way  to  suc- 
ceed?" 

"  Well,  it  helped  me  greatly  to  future  suc- 
cess." 

227 


How  They  Succeeded 

INVENTIONS 

"  What  was  your  next  invention  ?  "  I  in- 
quired. 

"  An  automatic  telegraph  recorder — a  ma- 
chine which  enabled  me  to  record  dispatches  at 
leisure,  and  send  them  off  as  fast  as  needed/' 

"  How  did  you  come  to  hit  upon  that  ?  " 

"  Well,  at  the  time,  I  was  in  such  straits  that 
I  had  to  walk  from  Memphis  to  Louisville.  At 
the  Louisville  station  they  offered  me  a  place. 
I  had  perfected  a  style  of  handwriting  which 
would  allow  me  to  take  legibly  from  the  wire, 
long  hand,  forty-seven  and  even  fifty- four 
words  a  minute,  but  I  was  only  a  moderately 
rapid  sender.  I  had  to  do  something  to  help 
me  on  that  side,  and  so  I  thought  out  that  little 
device." 

Later  I  discovered  an  article  by  one  of  his 
biographers,  in  which  a  paragraph  referring  to 
this  Louisville  period,  says : — 

"  True  to  his  dominant  instincts,  he  was  not 
long  in  gathering  around  him  a  laboratory, 
printing  office,  and  machine  shop.  He  took 
press  reports  during  his  whole  stay,  including 
on  one  occasion,  the  Presidential  message,  by 
Andrew  Johnson,  and  this  at  one  sitting,  from 
3.30  P.  M.  to  4.30  A.  M. 

228 


Thomas  A.  Edison 

"  He  then  paragraphed  the  matter  he  had 
received  over  the  wires,  so  that  printers  had 
exactly  three  lines  each,  thus  enabling  them  to 
set  up  a  column  in  two  or  three  minutes'  time. 
For  this,  he  was  allowed  all  the  exchanges  he 
desired,  and  the  Louisville  press  gave  him  a 
dinner." 

"  How  did  you  manage  to  attract  public  at- 
tention to  your  ability?"  I  questioned. 

"  I  didn't  manage,"  said  the  Wizard. 
"  Some  things  I  did  created  comment.  A  de- 
vice that  I  invented  in  1868,  which  utilized  one 
sub-marine  cable  for  two  circuits,  caused  con- 
siderable talk,  and  the  Franklin  telegraph  office 
of  Boston  gave  me  a  position." 

It  is  related  of  this,  Mr.  Edison's  first  trip 
East,  that  he  came  with  no  ready  money  and 
in  a  rather  dilapidated  condition.  His  col- 
leagues were  tempted  by  his  "  hayseed "  ap- 
pearance to  "  salt "  him,  as  professional  slang 
terms  the  process  of  giving  a  receiver  matter 
faster  than  he  can  record  it.  For  this  purpose, 
the  new  man  was  assigned  to  a  wire  manipu- 
lated by  a  New  York  operator  famous  for  his 
speed.  But  there  was  no  fun  at  all.  Not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  the  New  Yorker  was 
in  the  game  and  was  doing  his  most  speedy 

229 


How  They  Succeeded 

clip,  Edison  wrote  out  the  long  message  accu- 
rately, and,  when  he  realized  the  situation,  was 
soon  firing  taunts  over  the  wire  at  the  sender's 
slowness. 

"  Had  you  patented  many  things  up  to  the 
time  of  your  coming  East  ?  "  I  queried. 

"  Nothing,"  said  the  inventor,  ruminatively. 
"  I  received  my  first  patent  in  1869." 

"For  what?" 

"  A  machine  for  recording  votes,  and  de- 
signed to  be  used  in  the  State  Legislature." 

"  I  didn't  know  such  machines  were  in  use," 
I  ventured. 

"  They  ar'n't,"  he  answered,  with  a  merry 
twinkle.  "  The  better  it  worked,  the  more  im- 
possible it  was;  the  sacred  right  of  the  minor- 
ity, you  know, — couldn't  filibuster  if  they  used 
it, — didn't  use  it." 

"Oh!" 

"  Yes,  it  was  an  ingenious  thing.  Votes  were 
clearly  pointed  and  shown  on  a  roll  of  paper, 
by  a  small  machine  attached  to  the  desk  of  each 
member.  I  was  made  to  learn  that  such  an 
innovation  was  out  of  the  question,  but  it 
taught  me  something." 

"And  that  was?" 

"  To  be  sure  of  the  practical  need  of,  and  de- 

230 


Thomas  A.  Edison 

mand  for,  a  machine,  before  expending  time 

and  energy  on  it." 

"  Is  that  one  of  your  maxims  of  success  ?  " 
"  It  is.     It  is  a  good  rule  to  give  people 

something  they  want,  and  they  will  pay  money 

to  get  it." 

HIS   ARRIVAL   AT   THE    METROPOLIS 

In  this  same  year,  Edison  removed  from  Bos- 
ton to  New  York,  friendless  and  in  debt  on 
account  of  the  expenses  of  his  experiment.  For 
several  weeks  he  wandered  about  the  town 
with  actual  hunger  staring  him  in  the  face. 
It  was  a  time  of  great  financial  excitement,  and 
with  that  strange  quality  of  Fortunism,  which 
seems  to  be  his  chief  characteristic,  he  entered 
the  establishment  of  the  Law  Gold  Reporting 
Company  just  as  their  entire  plant  had  shut 
down  on  account  of  an  accident  in  the  machin- 
ery that  could  not  be  located.  The  heads  of 
the  firm  were  anxious  and  excited  to  the  last 
degree,  and  a  crowd  of  the  Wall  street  fra- 
ternity waited  about  for  the  news  which  came 
not.  The  shabby  stranger  put  his  finger  on 
the  difficulty  at  once,  and  was  given  lucrative 
employment.  In  the  rush  of  the  metropolis, 
a  man  finds  his  true  level  without  delay  es- 

231 


How  They  Succeeded 

pecially  when  his  talents  are  of  so  practical 
and  brilliant  a  nature  as  were  this  young  teleg- 
rapher's. It  would  be  an  absurdity  to  imagine 
an  Edison  hidden  in  New  York.  Within  a 
short  time,  he  was  presented  with  a  check  for 
$40,000,  as  his  share  of  a  single  invention — 
an  improved  stock  printer.  From  this  time, 
a  national  reputation  was  assured  him.  He 
was,  too,  now  engaged  upon  the  duplex  and 
quadruplex  systems — systems  for  sending  two 
and  four  messages  at  the  same  time  over  a 
single  wire, — which  were  to  inaugurate  almost 
a  new  era  in  telegraphy. 

MENTAL    CONCENTRATION 

Recalling  the  incident  of  the  Law  Gold  Re- 
porting Company,  I  inquired :  "Do  you  be- 
lieve want  urges  a  man  to  greater  efforts,  and 
so  to  greater  success  ?  " 

"  It  certainly  makes  him  keep  a  sharp  look- 
out. I  think  it  does  push  a  man  along." 

"  Do  you  believe  that  invention  is  a  gift,  or 
an  acquired  ability  ?  " 

"  I  think  it's  born  in  a  man." 

"  And  don't  you  believe  that  familiarity 
with  certain  mechanical  conditions  and  defects 
naturally  suggests  improvements  to  any  one  ?  " 

232 


Thomas  A.  Edison 

"  No.  Some  people  may  be  perfectly  famil- 
iar with  a  machine  all  their  days,  knowing  it 
inefficient,  and  never  see  a  way  to  improve  it." 

"  What  do  you  think  is  the  first  requisite  for 
success  in  your  field,  or  any  other  ?  " 

"  The  ability  to  apply  your  physical  and 
mental  energies  to  one  problem  incessantly 
without  growing  weary" 

TWENTY   HOURS  A  DAY 

"  Do  you  have  regular  hours,  Mr.  Edison  ?  " 
I  asked. 

"  Oh,"  he  said,  "  I  do  not  work  hard  now. 
I  come  to  the  laboratory  about  eight  o'clock 
every  day  and  go  home  to  tea  at  six,  and  then  I 
study  or  work  on  some  problem  until  eleven, 
which  is  my  hour  for  bed." 

"  Fourteen  of  fifteen  hours  a  day  can  scarcely 
be  called  loafing,"  I  suggested. 

"  Well,"  he  replied,  "  for  fifteen  years  I  have 
worked  on  an  average  of  twenty  hours  a  day." 

When  he  was  forty-seven  years  old,  he  esti- 
mated his  true  age  at  eighty-two,  since  work- 
ing only  eight  hours  a  day  would  have  taken 
till  that  time. 

Mr.  Edison  has  sometimes  worked  sixty 
consecutive  hours  upon  one  problem.  Then 

233 


How  They  Succeeded 

after  a  long  sleep,  he  was  perfectly  refreshed 
and  ready  for  another. 

A   RUN    FOR   BREAKFAST 

Mr.  Dickson,  a  neighbor  and  familiar,  gives 
an  anecdote  told  by  Edison  which  well  illus- 
trates his  untiring  energy  and  phenomenal  en- 
durance. In  describing  his  Boston  experience, 
Edison  said  he  bought  Faraday's  works  on 
electricity,  commenced  to  read  them  at  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning  and  continued  until  his 
room-mate  arose,  when  they  started  on  their 
long  walk  to  get  breakfast.  That  object  was 
entirely  subordinated  in  Edison's  mind  to 
Faraday,  and  he  suddenly  remarked  to  his 
friend :  "  '  Adams,  I  have  got  so  much  to  do, 
and  life  is  so  short,  that  I  have  got  to  hustle/ 
and  with  that  I  started  off  on  a  dead  run  for  my 
breakfast." 

"  I've  known  Edison  since  he  was  a  boy  of 
fourteen,"  said  another  friend;  "and  of  my 
own  knowledge  I  can  say  he  never  spent  an  idle 
day  in  his  life.  Often,  when  he  should  have 
been  asleep,  I  have  known  him  to  sit  up  half  the 
night  reading.  He  did  not  take  to  novels  or 
wild  Western  adventures,  but  read  works  on 
mechanics,  chemistry,  and  electricity;  and  he 

234 


Thomas  A.  Edison 

mastered  them  too.  But  in  addition  to  his 
reading,  which  he  could  only  indulge  in  at  odd 
hours,  he  carefully  cultivated  his  wonderful 
powers  of  observation,  till  at  length,  when  he 
was  not  actually  asleep,  it  may  be  said  he  was 
learning  all  the  time." 

NOT    BY    ACCIDENT    AND    NOT    FOR    FUN 

"  Are  your  discoveries  often  brilliant  in- 
tuitions? Do  they  come  to  you  while  you  are 
lying  awake  nights  ?  "  I  asked  him. 

"  I  never  did  anything  worth  doing  by  acci- 
dent," he  replied,  "  nor  did  any  of  my  inven- 
tions come  indirectly  through  accident,  except 
the  phonograph.1  No,  when  I  have  fully  de- 
cided that  a  result  is  worth  getting,  I  go  about 
it,  and  make  trial  after  trial,  until  it  comes. 


1 "  I  was  singing  to  the  mouthpiece  of  a  telephone," 
said  Edison,  "  when  the  vibrations  of  my  voice  caused  a 
fine  steel  point  to  pierce  one  of  my  fingers  held  just  be- 
hind it.  That  set  me  to  thinking.  If  I  could  record 
the  motions  of  the  point  and  send  it  over  the  same  sur- 
face afterward,  I  saw  no  reason  why  the  thing  would 
not  talk.  I  determined  to  make  a  machine  that  would 
work  accurately,  and  gave  my  assistants  the  necessary 
instructions,  telling  them  what  I  had  discovered. 
That's  the  whole  story.  The  phonograph  is  the  result 
of  the  pricking  of  a  finger." 

235 


How  They  Succeeded 

"  I  have  always  kept,"  continued  Mr.  Edi- 
son, "  strictly  within  the  lines  of  commercially 
useful  inventions.  I  have  never  had  any  time 
to  put  on  electrical  wonders,  valuable  only  as 
novelties  to  catch  the  popular  fancy." 

"  I  LIKE  IT 1  HATE  IT  " 

"  What  makes  you  work  ?  "  I  asked  with 
real  curiosity.  "  What  impels  you  to  this  con- 
stant, tireless  struggle?  You  have  shown  that 
you  care  comparatively  nothing  for  the  money 
it  makes  you,  and  you  have  no  particular  en- 
thusiasm for  the  attending  fame.  What  is  it  ?  " 

"  I  like  it,"  he  answered,  after  a  moment  of 
puzzled  expression.  "  I  don't  know  any  other 
reason.  Anything  I  have  begun  is  always  on 
my  mind,  and  I  am  not  easy  while  away  from 
it,  until  it  is  finished ;  and  then  I  hate  it." 

"Hate  it?"  I  said. 

"Yes,"  he  affirmed,  "when  it  is  all  done 
and  is  a  success,  I  can't  bear  the  sight  of  it. 
I  haven't  used  a  telephone  in  ten  years,  and  I 
would  go  out  of  my  way  any  day  to  miss  an 
incandescent  light."  * 

1 "  After  I  have  completed  an  invention,"   remarked 
Edison,  upon  another  occasion,  "  I  seem  to  lose  interest 

236 


Thomas  A.  Edison 

DOING    ONE    THING    EIGHTEEN    HOURS    IS    THE 
SECRET 

"  You  lay  down  rather  severe  rules  for  one 
who  wishes  to  succeed  in  life,"  I  ventured, 
"  working  eighteen  hours  a  day." 

"  Not  at  all,"  he  said.  "  You  do  something 
all  day  long,  don't  you?  Every  one  does.  If 
you  get  up  at  seven  o'clock  and  go  to  bed  at 
eleven,  you  have  put  in  sixteen  good  hours, 
and  it  is  certain  with  most  men,  that  they  have 
been  doing  something  all  the  time.  They  have 
been  either  walking,  or  reading,  or  writing,  or 
thinking.  The  only  trouble  is  that  they  do  it 
about  a  great  many  things  and  I  do  it  about 
one.  If  they  took  the  time  in  question  and 
applied  it  in  one  direction,  to  one  object,  they 
would  succeed.  Success  is  sure  to  follow  such 


in  it.  One  might  think  that  the  money  value  of  an  in- 
vention constitutes  its  reward  to  the  man  who  loves  his 
work.  But,  speaking  for  myself,  I  can  honestly  say 
this  is  not  so.  Life  was  never  more  full  of  joy  to  me, 
than  when,  a  poor  boy,  I  began  to  think  out  improve- 
ments in  telegraphy,  and  to  experiment  with  the  cheap- 
est and  crudest  appliances.  But  now  that  I  have  all  the 
appliances  I  need,  and  am  my  own  master,  I  continue 
to  find  my  greatest  pleasure,  and  so  my  reward,  in  the 
work  that  precedes  what  the  world  calls  success." 

237 


How  They  Succeeded 

application.  The  trouble  lies  in  the  fact  that 
people  do  not  have  an  object — one  thing  to 
which  they  stick,  letting  all  else  go.  Success 
is  the  product  of  the  severest  kind  of  mental 
and  physical  application." 

POSSIBILITIES  IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  FIELD 

:<  You  believe,  of  course,"  I  suggested,  "  that 
much  remains  to  be  discovered  in  the  realm  of 
electricity?" 

"  It  is  the  field  of  fields,"  he  answered.  "  We 
can't  talk  of  that,  but  it  holds  the  secrets  which 
will  reorganize  the  life  of  the  world." 

"  You  have  discovered  much  about  it,"  I 
said,  smiling. 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  "  and  yet  very  little  in  com- 
parison with  the  possibilities  that  appear." 

ONLY  SIX   HUNDRED  INVENTIONS 

"  How  many  inventions  have  you  pat^ 
ented?" 

"Only  six  hundred,"  he  answered,  "but  I 
have  made  application  for  some  three  hundred 
more." 

"  And  do  you  expect  to  retire  soon,  after  all 
this?" 

"  I  hope  not,"  he  said,  almost  pathetically, 

238 


Thomas  A.  Edison 

"  I  hope  I  will  be  able  to  work  right  on  to  the 
close.     I  shouldn't  care  to  loaf." 

HIS    COURTSHIP   AND    HIS    HOME 

The  idea  of  the  great  electrician's  marrying 
was  first  suggested  by  an  intimate  friend,  who 
told  him  that  his  large  house  and  numerous 
servants  ought  to  have  a  mistress.  Although 
a  very  shy  man,  he  seemed  pleased  with  the 
proposition,  and  timidly  inquired  whom  he 
should  marry.  The  friend,  annoyed  at  his  ap- 
parent want  of  sentiment,  somewhat  testily  re- 
plied,— "  Anyone."  But  Edison  was  not  with- 
out sentiment  when  the  time  came.  One  day, 
as  he  stood  behind  the  chair  of  a  Miss  Stillwell, 
a  telegraph  operator  in  his  employ,  he  was  not 
a  little  surprised  when  she  suddenly  turned 
round  and  said: 

"  Mr.  Edison,  I  can  always  tell  when  you  are 
behind  me  or  near  me." 

It  was  now  Miss  Stillwell's  turn  to  be  sur- 
prised, for,  with  characteristic  bluntness  and 
ardor,  Edison  fronted  the  young  lady,  and, 
looking  her  full  in  the  face,  said : 

"  I've  been  thinking  considerably  about  you 
of  late,  and,  if  you  are  willing  to  marry  me,  I 
would  like  to  marry  you." 

239 


How  They  Succeeded 

The  young  lady  said  she  would  consider  the 
matter,  and  talk  it  over  with  her  mother.  The 
result  was  that  they  were  married  a  month  later, 
and  the  union  proved  a  very  happy  one. 

It  was  in  fact  no  more  an  accident  than  other 
experiments  in  the  Edison  laboratory — his 
bride  having  been  long  the  subject  of  the  Wiz- 
zard's  observation — her  mental  capacity,  her 
temper  and  temperament,  her  aptitude  for 
home-making  being  duly  tested  and  noted. 


240 


xv  I 

A  FASCINATING  STORY 

BY  GENERAL  LEW  WALLACE 

IN  his  study,  a  curiously-shaped  building 
lighted  from  the  top,  and  combining  in 
equal  portions  the  Byzantine,  Roman- 
esque and  Doric  styles  of  architecture,  the  gray- 
haired  author  of  "  Ben-Hur,"  surrounded  by 
his  pictures,  books,  and  military  trophies,  is 
spending,  in  serene  and  comfortable  retirement, 
the  evening  of  his  life.  As  I  sat  beside  him, 
the  other  day,  and  listened  to  the  recital  of  his 
earlier  struggles  and  later  achievements,  I 
could  not  help  contrasting  his  dignified  bearing, 
careful  expression,  and  gentle  demeanor,  with 
another  occasion  in  his  life,  when,  as  a  vigor- 
ous, black-haired  young  military  officer,  in  the 
spring  of  1861,  he  appeared,  with  flashing  eye 
and  uplifted  sword,  at  the  head  of  his  regiment, 
the  gallant  and  historic  Eleventh  Indiana  Vol- 
unteers. 

241 


How  They  Succeeded 

General  Wallace  never  repels  a  visitor,  and 
his  greeting  is  cordial  and  ingenuous. 

"  If  I  could  say  anything  to  stimulate  or  en- 
courage the  young  men  of  to-day/'  he  said,  "  I 
would  gladly  do  so,  but  I  fear  that  the  story  of 
my  early  days  would  be  of  very  little  interest 
or  value  to  others.  So  far  as  school  education 
is  concerned,  it  may  be  truthfully  said  that  I 
had  but  little,  if  any;  and  if,  in  spite  of  that 
deficiency,  I  ever  arrived  at  proficiency,  I 
reached  it,  I  presume,  as  Topsy  attained  her 
stature, — '  just  growed  into  it.' ' 

A  BOYHOOD  OF  WASTED  OPPORTUNITIES 

"  Were  you  denied  early  school  advan- 
tages?" I  asked. 

"  Not  in  the  least.  On  the  contrary,  I  had 
most  abundant  opportunity  in  that  respect. 

"  My  father  was  a  lawyer,  enjoying  a  lucra- 
tive practice  in  Brookville,  Indiana, — a  small 
town  which  bears  the  distinction  of  having 
given  to  the  world  more  prominent  men  than 
any  other  place  in  the  Hoosier  State.  Not  long 
after  my  birth,  he  was  elected  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor, and,  finally,  governor  of  the  state.  He, 
himself,  was  an  educated  man,  having  been 

242 


General  Lew  Wallace 

graduated  from  the  United  States  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point,  and  having  served  as 
instructor  in  mathematics  there.  He  was  not 
only  an  educated  man,  but  a  man  of  advanced 
ideas  generally,  as  shown  by  the  fact  that  he 
failed  of  a  re-election  to  congress  in  1840,  be- 
cause, as  a  member  of  the  committee  on  com- 
merce, he  gave  the  casting  vote  in  favor  of  an 
appropriation  to  develop  Morse's  magnetic  tele- 
graph. 

"  Of  course,  he  believed  in  the  value,  and 
tried  to  impress  upon  me  the  necessity  of  a 
thorough  school  training.  But,  in  the  face  of 
all  the  solicitude  and  encouragement  which  an 
indulgent  father  could  waste  on  an  unappre- 
ciative  son,  I  remained  vexatiously  indifferent. 
I  presume  I  was  like  some  man  in  history, — it 
was  Lincoln,  I  believe, — who  said  that  his  fa- 
ther taught  him  to  work,  but  he  never  quite 
succeeded  in  teaching  him  to  love  it. 

"  My  father  sent  me  to  school,  and  regularly 
paid  tuition, — for  in  those  days  there  were  no 
free  schools;  but,  much  to  my  discredit,  he 
failed  to  secure  anything  like  regular  attend- 
ance at  recitations,  or  even  a  decent  attempt  to 
master  my  lessons  at  any  time.  In  fact,  much 
of  the  time  that  should  have  been  given  to 

243 


How  They  Succeeded 

school  was  spent  in  fishing,  hunting,  and  roam- 
ing through  the  woods." 

HIS  BOYHOOD  LOVE  FOR  HISTORY  AND  LITERA- 
TURE 

"  But  were  you  thus  indifferent  to  all  forms 
of  education  ?  " 

"  No,  my  case  was  not  quite  so  hopeless  as 
that.  I  did  not  desert  the  schools  entirely,  but 
my  attendance  was  so  provokingly  irregular 
and  my  indifference  so  supreme,  I  wonder  now 
that  I  was  tolerated  at  all.  But  I  had  one 
mainstay;  I  loved  to  read.  I  was  a  most  in- 
ordinate reader.  In  some  lines  of  literature, 
especially  history  and  some  kinds  of  fiction,  my 
appetite  was  insatiate,  and  many  a  day,  while 
my  companions  were  clustered  together  in  the 
old  red  brick  schoolhouse,  struggling  with 
their  problems  in  fractions  or  percentage,  I 
was  carefully  hidden  in  the  woods  near  by, 
lying  upon  my  elbows,  munching  an  apple,  and 
reveling  in  the  beauties  of  Plutarch,  Byron  or 
Goldsmith." 

"  Did  you  not  attend  college,  or  the  higher 
grade  of  schools  ?  " 

"  Yes,  for  a  brief  period.  My  brother  was 
a  student  in  Wabash  College, — here  in  Craw- 

244 


General  Lew  Wallace 

fordsville, — and  hither  I  also  was  sent;  but 
within  six  weeks  I  had  tired  of  the  routine,  was 
satiated  with  discipline,  and  made  my  exit  from 
the  institution. 

"  I  shall  never  forget  what  my  father  did 
when  I  returned  home.  He  called  me  into  his 
office,  and,  reaching  into  one  of  the  pigeon- 
holes above  his  desk,  withdrew  therefrom  a 
package  of  papers  neatly  folded  and  tied  with 
the  conventional  red  tape.  He  was  a  very  sys- 
tematic man,  due,  perhaps,  to  his  West  Point 
training,  and  these  papers  proved  to  be  the  re- 
ceipts for  my  tuition,  which  he  had  carefully 
preserved.  He  called  off  the  items,  and  asked 
me  to  add  them  together.  The  total,  I  con- 
fess, staggered  me. 

A  FATHER'S  FRUITFUL  WARNING 

" '  That  sum,  my  son/  he  said,  with  a  tone 
of  regret  in  his  voice,  '  represents  what  I  have 
expended  in  these  many  years  past  to  provide 
you  with  a  good  education.  How  successful  I 
have  been,  you  know  better  than  anyone  else/ 

"  *  After  mature  reflection,  I  have  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  I  have  done  for  you  in  that 
direction  all  that  can  reasonably  be  expected  of 
any  parent ;  and  I  have,  therefore,  called  you  in 

245 


How  They  Succeeded 

to  tell  you  that  you  have  now  reached  an  age 
when  you  must  take  up  the  lines  yourself.  If 
you  have  failed  to  profit  by  the  advantages 
with  which  I  have  tried  so  hard  to  surround 
you,  the  responsibility  must  be  yours.  I  shall 
not  upbraid  you  for  your  neglect,  but  rather 
pity  you  for  the  indifference  which  you  have 
shown  to  the  golden  opportunities  you  have, 
through  my  indulgence,  been  enabled  to  en- 

joy." 

A   MANHOOD  OF   SPLENDID   EFFORT 

"  What  effect  did  his  admonition  have  on 
you  ?  Did  it  awaken  or  arouse  you  ?  " 

"  It  aroused  me,  most  assuredly.  It  set  me 
to  thinking  as  nothing  before  had  done.  The 
next  day,  I  set  out  with  a  determination  to  ac- 
complish something  for  myself.  My  father's 
injunction  rang  in  my  ears.  New  responsibili- 
ties rested  on  my  shoulders,  as  I  was,  for  the 
first  time  in  my  life,  my  own  master.  I  felt 
that  I  must  get  work  on  my  own  account. 

"  After  much  effort,  I  finally  obtained  em- 
ployment from  the  man  with  whom  I  had 
passed  so  many  afternoons  strolling  up  and 
down  the  little  streams  in  the  neighborhood, 
trying  to  fish.  He  was  the  county  clerk,  and 

246 


General  Lew  Wallace 

he  hired  me  to  copy  what  was  known  as  the 
complete  record  of  one  of  the  courts.  I 
worked  for  months  in  a  dingy,  half-lighted 
room,  receiving  for  my  pay  something  like  ten 
cents  per  hundred  words.  The  tediousness 
and 

THE  REGULARITY  OF  THE  WORK  WAS  A  SPLEN- 
DID   DRILL    FOR    ME, 

and  taught  me  the  virtue  of  persistence  as  one 
of  the  avenues  of  success.  It  was  at  this  time 
I  began  to  realize  the  deficiency  in  my  educa- 
tion, especially  as  I  had  an  ambition  to  become 
a  lawyer.  Being  deficient  in  both  mathematics 
and  grammar,  /  was  forced  to  study  evenings. 
Of  course,  the  latter  was  a  very  exacting  study, 
after  a  full  day's  hard  work;  but  I  was  made 
to  realize  that  the  time  I  had  spent  with  such 
lavish  prodigality  could  not  be  recovered,  and 
that  I  must  extract  every  possible  good  out  of 
the  golden  moments  then  flying  by  all  too  fast." 

SELF-EDUCATION    BY    READING    AND    LITERARY 
COMPOSITION 

"  Had  you  a  distinct  literary  ambition  at 
that  time?" 

"  Well,  I  had  always  had  a  sort  of  literary 

247 


How  They  Succeeded 

bent  or  inclination.  I  read  all  the  literature 
of  the  day,  besides  the  standard  authors,  and 
finally  began  to  devote  my  odd  moments  to  a 
book  of  my  own, — a  tale  based  on  the  days  of 
the  crusades.  When  completed,  it  covered 
about  three  hundred  and  fifty  pages,  and  bore 
the  rather  high-sounding  title,  '  The  Man-at- 
Arms/  I  read  a  good  portion  of  it  before  a 
literary  society  to  which  I  belonged ;  the  mem- 
bers applauded  it,  and  I  was  frequently  urged 
to  have  it  published. 

"  The  Mexican  War  soon  followed,  how- 
ever, and  I  took  the  manuscript  with  me  when 
I  enlisted.  But  before  the  close  of  my  service 
it  was  lost,  and  my  production,  therefore,  never 
reached  the  public  eye." 

"  But  did  not  the  approval  which  the  book 
received  from  the  few  persons  who  read  it  en- 
courage you  to  continue  writing?  " 

"  Fully  fifty  years  have  elapsed  since  then, 
and  it  is,  therefore,  rather  difficult,  at  this  late 
day,  to  recall  just  how  such  things  affected  me. 
I  suppose  I  was  encouraged  thereby,  for,  in 
due  course  of  time,  another  book  which  turned 
out  to  be 


248 


General  Lew  Wallace 


my  first  book  to  reach  the  public, — began  to 
shape  itself  in  my  mind.  The  composition  of 
this  work  was  not,  as  the  theatrical  people 
would  say,  a  continuous  performance,  for  there 
were  many  and  singular  interruptions;  and  it 
would  be  safe  to  say  that  months,  and,  in  one 
case,  years,  intervened  between  certain  chap- 
ters. A  few  years  after  the  war,  I  finished  the 
composition,  strung  the  chapters  into  a  con- 
tinuous narrative,  leveled  up  the  uneven  places, 
and  started  East  with  the  manuscript.  A  let- 
ter from  Whitelaw  Reid,  then  editor  of  the 
New  York  Tribune,  introduced  me  to  the 
head  of  one  of  the  leading  publishing  houses 
in  Boston.  There  I  was  kindly  received,  and 
delivered  my  manuscript,  which  was  referred 
to  a  professional  reader,  to  determine  its  lit- 
erary, and  also,  I  presume,  its  commercial 
value. 

"  It  would  be  neither  a  new  nor  an  interest- 
ing story  to  acquaint  the  public  with  the  degree 
of  anxious  suspense  that  pervaded  my  mind 
when  I  withdrew  to  await  the  reader's  judg- 
ment. Every  other  writer  has,  I  assume,  at  one 
time  or  another,  undergone  much  the  same  ex- 

249 


How  They  Succeeded 

perience.  It  was  not  long  until  I  learned  from 
the  publisher  that  the  reader  reported  in  favor 
of  my  production.  Publication  soon  followed, 
and  for  the  first  time,  in  a  literary  sense,  I 
found  myself  before  the  public,  and  my  book 
before  the  critics." 

THE  ORIGIN  OF.  "  BEN-HUR  " 

"  How  long  after  this  did  '  Ben-Hur '  ap- 
pear, and  what  led  you  to  write  it  ?  " 

"  I  began  '  Ben-Hur  '  about  1876,  and  it  was 
published  in  1880.  The  purpose,  at  first,  was 
a  short  serial  for  one  of  the  magazines,  de- 
scriptive of  the  visit  of  the  wise  men  to  Jeru- 
salem as  mentioned  in  the  first  two  verses  of 
the  second  chapter  of  Matthew.  It  will  be 
recognized  in  '  Book  First '  of  the  work  as  now 
published.  For  certain  reasons,  however,  the 
serial  idea  was  abandoned,  and  the  narrative, 
instead  of  ending  with  the  birth  of  the  Saviour, 
expanded  into  a  more  pretentious  novel  and 
only  ended  with  the  death  scene  on  Calvary. 
The  last  ten  chapters  were  written  in  the  old 
adobe  palace  at  Santa  Fe,  New  Mexico,  where 
I  was  serving  as  governor. 

"  It  is  difficult  to  answer  the  question,  '  what 
led  me  to  write  the  book ; '  or  why  I  chose  a 

250 


General  Lew  Wallace 

piece  of  fiction  which  used  Christ  as  its  lead- 
ing character.  In  explanation,  it  is  proper  to 
state  that  I  had  reached  an  age  in  life  when 
men  usually  begin  to  study  themselves  with 
reference  to  their  fellowmen,  and  reflect  on  the 
good  they  may  have  done  in  the  world.  Up  to 
that  time,  never  having  read  the  Bible,  I  knew 
nothing  about  sacred  history;  and,  in  matters 
of  a  religious  nature,  although  I  was  not  in 
every  respect  an  infidel,  I  was  persistently  and 
notoriously  indifferent.  /  did  not  know,  and 
therefore,  did  not  care.  I  resolved  to  begin  the 
study  of  the  good  book  in  earnest. 

INFLUENCE    OF    THE    STORY    OF    THE    CHRIST 
UPON   THE  AUTHOR 

"  I  was  in  quest  of  knowledge,  but  I  had  no 
faith  to  sustain,  no  creed  to  bolster  up.  The 
result  was  that  the  whole  field  of  religious  and 
biblical  history  opened  up  before  me;  and,  my 
vision  not  being  clouded  by  previously  formed 
opinions,  I  was  enabled  to  survey  it  without  the 
aid  of  lenses.  I  believe  I  was  thorough  and  per- 
sistent. I  know  I  was  conscientious  in  my 
search  for  the  truth.  I  weighed,  I  analyzed,  I 
counted  and  compared.  The  evolution  from 
conjecture  into  knowledge,  through  opinion 

251 


How  They  Succeeded 

and  belief,  was  gradual  but  irresistible;  and  at 
length  I  stood  firmly  and  defiantly  on  the  solid 
rock. 

"  Upward  of  seven  hundred  thousand  copies 
of  '  Ben-Hur '  have  been  published,  and  it  has 
been  translated  into  all  languages  from  French 
to  Arabic.  But,  whether  it  has  ever  influenced 
the  mind  of  a  single  reader  or  not,  I  am  sure 
its  conception  and  preparation — if  it  has  done 
nothing  more — have  convinced  its  author  of  the 
divinity  of  the  lowly  Nazarene  who  walked  and 
talked  with  God." 


252 


xvi    I  ..;.       I •.";;;;;; 

Carnegie  as  a  Metal  Worker 

THERE  is  no  doubt,"  said  Mr.  Car- 
negie, in  reply  to  a  question  from 
me,  "  that  it  is  becoming  harder 
and  harder,  as  business  gravitates  more  and 
more  to  immense  concerns,  for  a  young  man 
without  capital  to  get  a  start  for  himself, 
and  in  the  large  cities  it  is  especially  so, 
where  large  capital  is  essential.  Still  it 
can  be  honestly  said  that  there  is  no 
other  country  in  the  world,  where  able  and 
energetic  young  men  and  women  can  so  readily 
rise  as  in  this.  A  president  of  a  business  col- 
lege informed  me,  recently,  that  he  has  never 
been  able  to  supply  the  demand  for  capable, 
first-class  [Mark  the  adjective.]  bookkeepers, 
and  his  college  'has  over  nine  hundred  students. 
In  America,  young  men  of  ability  rise  with 
most  astonishing  rapidity." 

"As  quickly  as  when  you  were  a  boy?" 

253 


How  They  Succeeded 

"  Much  more  so.  When  I  was  a  boy,  there 
were  but  very  few  important  positions  that  a 
boy  could  aspire  to.  Every  position  had  to  be 
made.  Now  a  boy  doesn't  need  to  make  the 
place, — all  he  has  to  do  is  to  fit  himself  to  take 
it." 

EARLY  WORK  AND  WAGES 

"  Where  did  you  begin  life?  '" 

"  In  Dunfermline,  Scotland,  during  my  ear- 
liest years.  The  service  of  my  life  has  all  been 
in  this  country." 

"InPittsburg?" 

"  Largely  so.  My  father  settled  in  Alle- 
gheny City,  when  I  was  only  ten  years  old,  and 
I  began  to  earn  my  way  in  Pittsburg." 

"  Do  you  mind  telling  me  what  your  first 
service  was  ?  " 

"  Not  at  all.  I  was  a  bobbin  boy  in  a  cotton 
factory,  then  an  engine-man  or  boy  in  the  same 
place,  and  later  still  I  was  a  messenger  boy  for 
a  telegraph  company." 

"  At  small  wages,  I  suppose?  " 

"  One  dollar  and  twenty  cents  a  week  was 
what  I  received  as  a  bobbin  boy,  and  I  consid- 
ered it  pretty  good,  at  that.  When  I  was  thir- 
teen, I  had  learned  to  run  a  steam  engine,  and 

254 


Andrew  Carnegie 

for  that  I  received  a  dollar  and  eighty  cents  a 

week." 

"  You  had  no  early  schooling,  then  ?  " 
"  None  except  such  as  I  gave  myself." 

COLONEL  ANDERSON'S  BOOKS 

"  There  were  no  fine  libraries  then,  but  in 
Allegheny  City,  where  I  lived,  there  was  a 
certain  Colonel  Anderson,  who  was  well  to  do 
and  of  a  philanthropic  turn.  He  announced, 
about  the  time  I  first  began  to  work,  that  he 
would  be  in  his  library  at  home,  every  Satur- 
day, ready  to  lend  books  to  working  boys  and 
men.  He  had  only  about  four  hundred  vol- 
umes, but  I  doubt  if  ever  so  few  books  were  put 
to  better  use.  Only  he  who  has  longed,  as  I 
did  for  Saturday  to  come,  that  the  spring  of 
knowledge  might  be  opened  anew  to  him,  can 
understand  what  Colonel  Anderson  did  for  me 
and  others  of  the  boys  of  Allegheny.  Quite  a 
number  of  them  have  risen  to  eminence,  and  I 
think  their  rise  can  be  easily  traced  to  this 
splendid  opportunity."  * 


1  It  was  Colonel  Anderson's  kindness  that  led  Carne- 
gie to  bestow  his  wealth  so  generously  for  founding 
libraries,  as  he  is  now  doing  every  year. 

25S 


How  They  Succeeded 

HIS  FIRST  GLIMPSE  OF  PARADISE 

"  How  long  did  you  remain  an  engine- 
boy?" 

"  Not  very  long,"  Mr.  Carnegie  replied ; 
"  perhaps  a  year." 

"And  then?" 

"  I  entered  a  telegraph  office  as  a  messenger 
boy." 

Although  Mr.  Carnegie  did  not  dwell  much 
on  this  period,  he  once  described  it  at  a  dinner 
given  in  honor  of  the  American  Consul  at  Dun- 
fermline,  Scotland,  when  he  said: — 

"  I  awake  from  a  dream  that  has  carried  me 
away  back  to  the  days  of  my  boyhood,  the  day 
when  the  little  white-haired  Scottish  laddie, 
dressed  in  a  blue  jacket,  walked  with  his  father 
into  the  telegraph  office  in  Pittsburg  to  undergo 
examination  as  an  applicant  for  a  position  as 
messenger  boy. 

"  Well  I  remember  when  my  uncle  spoke  to 
my  parents  about  it,  and  my  father  objected, 
because  I  was  then  getting  one  dollar  and 
eighty  cents  per  week  for  running  the  small 
engine  in  a  cellar  in  Allegheny  City,  but  my 
uncle  said  a  messenger's  wages  would  be  two 
dollars  and  fifty  cents  ...  If  you  want 
an  idea  as  to  heaven  on  earth,  imagine  what  it 

256 


Andrew  Carnegie 

is  to  be  taken  from  a  dark  cellar,  where  I  fired 
the  boiler  from  morning  until  night,  and  drop- 
ped into  an  office,  where  light  shone  from  all 
sides,  with  books,  papers,  and  pencils  in  pro- 
fusion around  me,  and  oh,  the  tick  of  those 
mysterious  brass  instruments  on  the  desk,  an- 
nihilating space  and  conveying  intelligence  to 
the  world.  This  was  my  first  glimpse  of  para- 
dise, and  I  walked  on  air." 

"  How  did  you  manage  to  rise  from  this 
position?  " 

"  I  learned  how  to  operate  a  telegraph  in- 
strument, and  then  waited  an  opportunity  to 
show  that  I  was  fit  to  be  an  operator.  Eventu- 
ally my  chance  came." 

The  truth  is  that  James  D.  Reid,  the  super- 
intendent of  the  office,  and  himself  a  Scotch- 
man, favored  the  ambitious  lad.  In  his  "  His- 
tory of  the  Telegraph,"  he  says  of  him : — 

"  I  liked  the  boy's  looks,  and  it  was  easy  to 
see  that,  though  he  was  little,  he  was  full  of 
spirit.  He  had  not  been  with  me  a  month  when 
he  asked  me  to  teach  him  to  telegraph.  He 
spent  all  his  spare  time  in  practice,  sending  and 
receiving  by  sound  and  not  by  tape,  as  was  the 
custom  in  those  days.  Pretty  soon  he  could  do 
as  well  as  I  could  at.  the  key." 

257 


How  They  Succeeded 

INTRODUCED  TO  A  BROOM 

"As  you  look  back  upon  it,"  I  said  to  Mr. 
Carnegie,  "  do  you  consider  that  so  lowly  a 
beginning  is  better  than  one  a  little  less 
trying?" 

"  For  young  men  starting  upon  their  life 
work,  it  is  much  the  best  to  begin  as  I  did,  at 
the  beginning,  and  occupy  the  most  subordinate 
positions.  Many  of  the  present-day  leading 
men  of  Pittsburg,  had  serious  responsibility 
thrust  upon  them  at  the  very  threshold  of  their 
careers.  They  were  introduced  to  the  broom, 
and  spent  the  first  hours  of  their  business  life 
sweeping  out  the  office.  I  notice  we  have  jani- 
tors and  janitresses  now  in  offices,  and  our 
young  men,  unfortunately,  miss  that  salutary 
branch  of  early  education.  It  does  not  hurt  the 
newest  comer  to  sweep  out  the  office." 

"Did  you?" 

"Many's  the  time.  And  who  do  you  suppose 
were  my  fellow  sweepers?  David  McBargo, 
afterwards  superintendent  of  the  Allegheny 
Valley  Railroad;  Robert  Pitcairn,  afterwards 
superintendent  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad; 
and  Mr.  Mooreland,  subsequently  City  At- 
torney of  Pittsburg.  We  all  took  turns,  two 

258 


Andrew  Carnegie 

each  morning  doing  the  sweeping;  and  now  I 
remember  Davie  was  so  proud  of  his  clean 
shirt  bosom  that  he  used  to  spread  over  it  an  old 
silk  handkerchief  which  he  kept  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  we  other  boys  thought  he  was  put- 
ting on  airs.  So  he  was.  None  of  us  had  a  silk 
handkerchief." 

"  After  you  had  learned  to  telegraph,  did  you 
consider  that  you  had  reached  high  enough?" 

"  Just  at  that  time  my  father  died,  and  the 
burden  of  the  support  of  the  family  fell  upon 
me.  I  earned  as  an  operator  twenty-five  dol- 
lars a  month,  and  a  little  additional  money  by 
copying  telegraphic  messages  for  the  news- 
papers, and  managed  to  keep  the  family  inde- 
pendent." 

AN  EXPERT  TELEGRAPHER 

More  light  on  this  period  of  Mr.  Carnegie's 
career  is  given  by  the  "  Electric  Age/'  which 
says: — "  As  a  telegraph  operator  he  was  abreast 
of  older  and  experienced  men;  and,  although 
receiving  messages  by  sound  was,  at  that  time, 
forbidden  by  authority  as  being  unsafe,  young 
Carnegie  quickly  acquired  the  art,  and  he  can 
still  stand  behind  the  ticker  and  understand 
its  language.  As  an  operator,  he  delighted  in 

259 


How  They  Succeeded 

full  employment  and  the  prompt  discharge  of 
business,  and  a  big  day's  work  was  his  chief 
pleasure." 

"  How  long  did  you  remain  with  the  tele- 
graph company  ?  " 

"  Until  I  was  given  a  place  by  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad  Company." 

"  As  an  operator  ?  " 

"  At  first, — until  I  showed  how  the  telegraph 
could  minister  to  railroad  safety  and  success; 
then  I  was  made  secretary  to  Thomas  A.  Scott, 
the  superintendent;  and  not  long  afterwards, 
when  Colonel  Scott  became  vice-president,  I 
was  made  superintendent  of  the  western 
division." 

Colonel  Scott's  attention  was  drawn  to  Car- 
negie by  the  operator's  devising  a  plan  for  run- 
ning trains  by  telegraph,  so  making  the  most 
of  a  single  track.  Up  to  this  time  no  one  had 
ever  dreamed  of  running  trains  in  opposite  di- 
rections, towards  each  other,  directing  them  by 
telegraph,  one  train  being  sidetracked  while  the 
other  passed.  The  boy  studied  out  a  train- 
despatching  system  which  was  afterwards  used 
on  every  single-track  railroad  in  the  country. 
Nobody  had  ever  thought  of  this  before,  and 
the  officials  were  so  pleased  with  the  ingenious 

260 


Andrew  Carnegie 

lad,  that  they  placed  him  in  charge  of  a  division 
office,  and  before  he  was  twenty  made  him  su- 
perintendent of  the  western  division  of  the 
road. 

WHAT  EMPLOYERS  THINK  OF  YOUNG  MEN 

Concerning  this  period  of  his  life,  I  asked 
Mr.  Carnegie  if  his  promotion  was  not  a  matter 
of  chance,  and  whether  he  did  not,  at  the  time, 
feel  it  to  be  so.  His  answer  was  emphatic. 

"  Never.  Young  men  give  all  kinds  of  rea- 
sons why,  in  their  cases,  failure  is  attributable 
to  exceptional  circumstances,  which  rendered 
success  impossible.  Some  never  had  a  chance, 
according  to  their  own  story.  This  is  simply 
nonsense.  No  young  man  ever  lived  who  had 
not  a  chance,  and  a  splendid  chance,  too,  if  he 
was  ever  employed  at  all.  He  is  assayed  in  the 
mind  of  his  immediate  superior,  from  the  day 
he  begins  work,  and,  after  a  time,  if  he  has 
merit,  he  is  assayed  in  the  council  chambers  of 
the  firm.  His  ability,  honesty,  habits,  associ- 
ations, temper,  disposition, — all  these  are 
weighed  and  analyzed.  The  young  man  who 
never  had  a  chance  is  the  same  young  man  who 
has  been  canvassed  over  and  over  again  by  his 
superiors,  and  found  destitute  of  necessary 

261 


How  They  Succeeded 

qualifications,  or  is  deemed  unworthy  of  closer 
relations  with  the  firm,  owing  to  some  objec- 
tionable act,  habit  or  association,  of  which  he 
thought  his  employers  ignorant." 

"  It  sounds  true." 

"  It  is." 

THE    RIGHT    MEN    IN   DEMAND 

"Another  class  of  young  men  attributes 
failure  to  rise  to  employers  having  near 
relatives  or  favorites  whom  they  advance  un- 
fairly. They  also  insist  that  their  employers 
dislike  brighter  intelligences  than  their  own, 
and  are  disposed  to  discourage  aspiring  genius, 
and  delighted  in  keeping  young  men  down. 
There  is  nothing  in  this.  On  the  contrary,  there 
is  no  one  suffering  more  for  lack  of  the  right 
man  in  the  right  place  as  the  average  employer, 
nor  anyone  more  anxious  to  find  him." 

"  Was  this  your  theory  on  the  subject  when 
you  began  working  for  the  railroad  company  ?  " 

"  I  had  no  theory  then,  although  I  have 
formulated  one  since.  It  lies  mainly  in  this: 
Instead  of  the  question,  '  What  must  I  do  for 
my  employer  ?  '  substitute,  '  What  can  I  do  ?  ' 
Faithful  and  conscientious  discharge  of  duties 
assigned  you  is  all  very  well,  but  the  verdict  in 

262 


Andrew  Carnegie 

such  cases  generally  is  that  you  perform  your 
present  duties  so  well,  that  you  would  better 
continue  performing  them.  Now,  this  will  not 
do.  It  will  not  do  for  the  coming  partners. 
There  must  be  something  beyond  this.  We 
make  clerks,  bookkeepers,  treasurers,  bank  tel- 
lers of  this  class,  and  there  they  remain  to  the 
end  of  the  chapter.  The  rising  man  must  do 
something  exceptional,  and  beyond  the  range 
of  his  special  department.  He  mu*st  attract  at- 
tention." 

HOW   TO   ATTRACT   ATTENTION 

"How  can  he  do  that?" 

"  Well,  if  he  is  a  shipping  clerk,  he  may  do 
so  by  discovering  in  an  invoice  an  error  with 
which  he  has  nothing  to  do  and  which  has  es- 
caped the  attention  of  the  proper  party.  If  a 
weighing  clerk,  he  may  save  for  the  firm  in 
questioning  the  adjustment  of  the  scales,  and 
having  them  corrected,  even  if  this  be  the  prov- 
ince of  the  master  mechanic.  If  a  messenger 
boy,  he  can  lay  the  seed  of  promotion  by  going 
beyond  the  letter  of  his  instructions  in  order 
to  secure  the  desired  reply.  There  is  no  service 
so  low  and  simple,  neither  any  so  high,  in  which 
the  young  man  of  ability  and  willing  disposi- 

263 


How  They  Succeeded 

tion  cannot  readily  and  almost  daily  prove  him- 
self capable  of  greater  trust  and  usefulness, 
and,  what  is  equally  important,  show  his  invin- 
cible determination  to  rise." 

"  In  what  manner  did  you  reach  out  to  es- 
tablish your  present  great  fortune?"  I  asked. 

"  By  saving  my  money.  I  put  a  little  money 
aside,  and  it  served  me  later  as  a  matter  of 
credit.  Also,  I  invested  in  a  sleeping-car  in- 
dustry, which  paid  me  well." 

SLEEPING-CAR  INVENTION 

Although  I  tried  earnestly  to  get  the  great 
iron-king  to  talk  of  this,  he  said  little,  because 
the  matter  has  been  fully  dealt  with  by  him  in 
his  "  Triumphant  Democracy."  From  his  own 
story  there,  it  appears  that  one  day  at  this  time, 
when  Mr.  Carnegie  still  had  his  fortune  to 
make,  he  was  on  a  train  examining  the  line 
from  a  rear  window  of  a  car,  when  a  tall,  spare 
man,  accosted  him  and  asked  him  to  look  at  an 
invention  he  had  made.  He  drew  from  a  green 
bag  a  small  model  of  a  sleeping-berth  for  rail- 
way cars,  and  proceeded  to  point  out  its  ad- 
vantages. It  was  Mr.  T.  T.  Woodruff,  the  in- 
ventor of  the  sleeping-car.  As  Mr.  Carnegie 
tells  the  story: — 

264 


Andrew  Carnegie 

"  He  had  not  spoken  a  moment  before,  like 
a  flash,  the  whole  range  of  the  discovery  burst 
upon  me.  '  Yes/  I  said,  '  that  is  something 
which  this  continent  must  have/ 

"  Upon  my  return,  I  laid  it  before  Mr.  Scott, 
declaring  that  it  was  one  of  the  inventions  of 
the  age.  He  remarked :  '  You  are  enthusias- 
tic, young  man,  but  you  may  ask  the  inventor 
to  come  and  let  me  see  it.'  I  did  so,  and  ar- 
rangements were  made  to  build  two  trial  cars, 
and  run  them  on  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad.  I 
was  offered  an  interest  in  the  venture,  which 
I  gladly  accepted. 

"  The  notice  came  that  my  share  of  the  first 
payment  was  $217.50.  How  well  I  remember 
the  exact  sum.  But  two  hundred  and  seventeen 
dollars  and  a  half  were  as  far  beyond  my  means 
as  if  it  had  been  millions.  I  was  earning  fifty 
dollars  per  month,  however,  and  had  prospects, 
or  at  least  I  always  felt  that  I  had.  I  decided  to 
call  on  the  local  banker  and  boldly  ask  him  to 
advance  the  sum  upon  my  interest  in  the  affair. 
He  put  his  hand  on  my  shoulder  and  said: 
*  Why,  of  course,  Andie ;  you  are  all  right.  Go 
ahead.  Here  is  the  money/ 

"  It  is  a  proud  day  for  a  man  when  he  pays 
his  last  note,  but  not  to  be  named  in  comparison 

265 


How  They  Succeeded 

with  the  day  in  which  he  makes  his  first  one,  and 
gets  a  banker  to  take  it.  I  have  tried  both,  and  I 
know.  The  cars  furnished  the  subsequent  pay- 
ments by  their  earnings.  I  paid  my  first  note 
from  my  savings,  so  much  per  month,  and  thus 
I  got  my  foot  upon  fortune's  ladder.  It  was 
easy  to  climb  after  that." 

THE  MARK  OF  A  MILLIONAIRE 

"  I  would  like  some  expression  from  you," 
I  said  to  Mr.  Carnegie,  "  in  reference  to  the 
importance  of  laying  aside  money  from  one's 
earnings,  as  a  young  man." 

"  You  can  have  it.  There  is  one  sure  mark 
of  the  coming  partner,  the  future  millionaire; 
his  revenues  always  exceed  his  expenditures. 
He  begins  to  save  early,  almost  as  soon  as  he 
begins  to  earn.  I  should  say  to  young  men, 
no  matter  how  little  it  may  be  possible  to  save, 
save  that  little.  Invest  it  securely,  not  neces- 
sarily in  bonds,  but  in  anything  which  you  have 
good  reason  to  believe  will  be  profitable.  Some 
rare  chance  will  soon  present  itself  for  invest- 
ment. The  little  you  have  saved  will  prove  the 
basis  for  an  amount  of  credit  utterly  surpris- 
ing to  you.  Capitalists  trust  the  saving  man. 
For  every  hundred  dollars  you  can  produce  as 

266 


Andrew  Carnegie 

the  result  of  hard-won  savings,  Midas,  in 
search  of  a  partner,  will  lend  or  credit  a  thou- 
sand ;  for  every  thousand,  fifty  thousand.  It  is 
not  capital  that  your  seniors  require,  it  is  the 
man  who  has  proved  that  he  has  the  business 
habits  which  create  capital.  So  it  is  the  first 
hundred  dollars  that  tell." 

AN   OIL-FARM 

"  What,"  I  asked  Mr.  Carnegie,  "  was  the 
next  enterprise  with  which  you  identified  your- 
self?" 

"  In  company  with  several  others,  I  pur- 
chased the  now  famous  Storey  farm,  on  Oil 
Creek,  Pennsylvania,  where  a  well  had  been 
bored  and  natural  oil  struck  the  year  before. 
This  proved  a  very  profitable  investment." 

In  "  Triumphant  Democracy,"  Mr.  Carnegie 
has  expatiated  most  fully  on  this  venture, 
which  is  so  important.  "  When  I  first  visited 
this  famous  well,"  he  says,  "  the  oil  was  run- 
ning into  the  creek,  where  a  few  flat-bottomed 
scows  lay  filled  with  it,  ready  to  be  floated 
down  the  Alleghany  River,  on  an  agreed-upon 
day  each  week,  when  the  creek  was  flooded  by 
means  of  a  temporary  dam.  This  was  the  be- 
ginning of  the  natural-oil  business.  We  pur- 

267 


How  They  Succeeded 

chased  the  farm  for  $40,000,  and  so  small  was 
our  faith  in  the  ability  of  the  earth  to  yield  for 
any  considerable  time  the  hundred  barrels  per 
day,  which  the  property  was  then  producing, 
that  we  decided  to  make  a  pond  capable  of 
holding  one  hundred  thousand  barrels  of  oil, 
which,  we  estimated,  would  be  worth,  when  the 
supply  ceased,  $1,000,000. 

"  Unfortunately  for  us,  the  pond  leaked  fear- 
fully; evaporation  also  caused  much  loss,  but 
we  continued  to  run  oil  in  to  make  the  losses 
good  day  after  day,  until  several  hundred  thou- 
sand barrels  had  gone  in  this  fashion.  Our 
experience  with  the  farm  is  worth  reciting: 
its  value  rose  to  $5,000,000;  that  is — the  shares 
of  the  company  sold  in  the  market  upon  this 
basis;  and  one  year  it  paid  cash  dividends  of 
$1,000,000 — upon  an  investment  of  $40,000." 

IRON  BRIDGES 

"  Were  you  satisfied  to  rest  with  these  enter- 
prises in  your  hands  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  No.  Railway  bridges  were  then  built  al- 
most exclusively  of  wood,  but  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  had  begun  to  experiment  with  cast- 
iron.  It  struck  me  that  the  bridge  of  the  future 
must  be  of  iron;  and  I  organized,  in  Pittsburg, 

268 


Andrew  Carnegie 

a  company  for  the  construction  of  iron  bridges. 
That  was  the  Keystone  Bridge  Works.  We 
built  the  first  iron  bridge  across  the  Ohio." 

His  entrance  of  the  realm  of  steel  was  much 
too  long  for  Mr.  Carnegie  to  discuss,  although 
he  was  not  unwilling  to  give  information  re- 
lating to  the  subject.  It  appears  that  he  realized 
the  immensity  of  the  steel  manufacturing  busi- 
ness at  once.  The  Union  Iron  Mills  soon  fol- 
lowed as  one  of  the  enterprises,  and,  later,  the 
famous  Edgar  Thompson  Steel  Rail  Mill.  The 
last  was  the  outcome  of  a  visit  to  England,  in 
1868,  when  Carnegie  noticed  that  English  rail- 
ways were  discarding  iron  for  steel  rails.  The 
Bessemer  process  had  been  then  perfected,  and 
was  making  its  way  in  all  the  iron-producing 
countries.  Carnegie,  recognizing  that  it  was 
destined  to  revolutionize  the  iron  business,  in- 
troduced it  into  his  mills  and  made  steel  rails 
with  which  he  was  enabled  to  compete  with 
English  manufacturers. 

HOMESTEAD  STEEL  WORKS 

His  next  enterprise  was  the  purchase  of  the 
Homestead  Steel  Works, — his  great  rival  in 
Pittsburg.  In  1888,  he  had  built  or  acquired 
seven  distinct  iron  and  steel  works,  all  of  which 

269 


How  They  Succeeded 

are  now  included  in  the  Carnegie  Steel  Com- 
pany, Limited.  All  the  plants  of  this  great  firm 
are  within  a  radius  of  five  miles  of  Pittsburg. 
Probably  in  no  other  part  of  the  world  can  be 
found  such  an  aggregation  of  splendidly  equip- 
ped steel  works  as  those  controlled  by  this  asso- 
ciation. It  now  comprises  the  Homestead 
Steel  Works,  the  Edgar  Thompson  Steel 
Works  and  Furnaces,  the  Duquesne  Steel 
Works  and  Furnaces,  all  within  two  miles  of 
one  another;  the  Lucy  Furnaces,  the  Keystone 
Bridge  Works,  the  Upper  Union  Rolling  Mills, 
and  the  Lower  Union  Rolling  Mills. 

In  all  branches,  including  the  great  coke 
works,  mines,  etc.,  there  are  employed  twenty- 
five  thousand  men.  The  monthly  pay  roll  ex- 
ceeds one  million,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars,  or  nearly  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars for  each  working  day.  Including  the  Frick 
Coke  Company,  the  united  capital  of  the  Car- 
negie Steel  Company  exceeds  sixty  million 
dollars. 

A  STRENGTHENING  POLICY 

"  You  believe  in  taking  active  measures,"  I 
said,  "  to  make  men  successful." 

270 


Andrew  Carnegie 

"  I  believe  in  anything  which  will  help  men 
to  help  themselves.  To  induce  them  to  save, 
every  workman  in  our  company  is  allowed  to 
deposit  part  of  his  earnings,  not  exceeding  two 
thousand  dollars,  with  the  firm,  on  which  the 
high  interest  rate  of  six  per  cent,  is  allowed. 
The  firm  also  lends  to  any  of  its  workmen  to 
buy  a  lot,  or  to  build  a  house,  taking  its  pay  by 
installments." 

"  Has  this  contributed  to  the  success  of  your 
company?  " 

"  I  think  so.  The  policy  of  giving  a  per- 
sonal interest  to  the  men  who  render  excep- 
tional service  is  strengthening.  With  us  there 
are  many  such,  and  every  year  several  more 
are  added  as  partners.  It  is  the  policy  of  the 
concern  to  interest  every  superintendent  in  the 
works,  every  head  of  a  department,  every  ex- 
ceptional young  man.  Promotion  follows  ex- 
ceptional service,  and  there  is  no  favoritism." 

PHILANTHROPY 

"  All  you  have  said  so  far,  merely  gives  the 
idea  of  getting  money,  without  any  suggestion 
as  to  the  proper  use  of  great  wealth.  Will  you 
say  something  on  that  score?  " 

271 


How  They  Succeeded 

"  My  views  are  rather  well  known,  I  think. 
What  a  man  owns  is  already  subordinate,  in 
America,  to  what  he  knows;  but  in  the  final 
aristocracy,  the  question  will  not  be  either  of 
these,  but  what  has  he  done  for  his  fellows? 
Where  has  he  shown  generosity  and  self-ab- 
negation? Where  has  he  been  a  father  to  the 
fatherless?  And  the  cause  of  the  poor,  where 
has  he  searched  that  out?" 

That  Mr.  Carnegie  has  lived  up  in  the  past, 
and  is  still  living  up  to  this  radical  declaration 
of  independence  from  the  practice  of  men  who 
have  amassed  fortunes  around  him,  will  be  best 
shown  by  a  brief  enumeration  of  some  of  his 
almost  unexampled  philanthropies.  His  larg- 
est gift  has  been  to  the  city  of  Pittsburg,  the 
scene  of  his  early  trials  and  later  triumphs. 
There  he  has  built,  at  a  cost  of  more  than  a 
million  dollars,  a  magnificent  library,  museum, 
concert  hall  and  picture  gallery,  all  under  one 
roof,  and  endowed  it  with  a  fund  of  another  mil- 
lion, the  interest  of  which  (fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars per  annum)  is  being  devoted  to  the  pur- 
chase of  the  best  works  of  American  art.  Other 
libraries,  to  be  connected  with  this  largest  as  a 
center,  are  now  being  constructed,  which  will 
make  the  city  of  Pittsburg  and  its  environs  a 

272 


Andrew  Carnegie 

beneficiary  of  his  generosity  to  the  extent  of 
five  million  dollars. 

While  thus  endowing  the  city  where  his  for- 
tune was  made,  he  has  not  forgotten  other 
places  endeared  to  him  by  association  or  by 
interest.  To  the  Allegheny  Free  Library  he 
has  given  $375,000;  to  the  Braddock  Free  Li- 
brary, $250,000;  to  the  Johnstown  Free  Li- 
brary, $50,000;  and  to  the  Fairfield  (Iowa) 
Library,  $40,000.  To  the  Cooper  Institute, 
New  York,  he  has  given  $300,000.  To  his  na- 
tive land  he  has  been  scarcely  less  generous.  To 
the  Edinburgh  Free  Library  he  has  given 
$250,000,  and  to  his  native  town  of  Dunferm- 
line,  $90,000.  Other  Scottish  towns  to  the 
number  of  ten  have  received  helpful  donations 
of  amounts  not  quite  so  large.  He  has  given 
$50,000  to  aid  poor  young  men  and  women 
to  gain  a  musical  education  at  the  Royal  Col- 
lege of  Music  in  London. 

"  THE  MISFORTUNE  OF  BEING  RICH  MEN'S 
SONS  " 

"  I  should  like  to  cause  you  to  say  some  other 
important  things  for  young  men  to  learn  and 
benefit  by." 

"  Our  young  partners  in  the  Carnegie  com- 

273 


How  They  Succeeded 

pany  have  all  won  their  spurs  by  showing  that 
we  did  not  know  half  as  well  what  was  wanted 
as  they  did.  Some  of  them  have  acted  upon 
occasions  with  me  as  if  they  owned  the  firm 
and  I  was  but  some  airy  New  Yorker,  presum- 
ing to  advise  upon  what  I  knew  very  little 
about.  Well,  they  are  not  now  interfered  with. 
They  were  the  true  bosses, — the  very  men  we 
were  looking  for." 

"  Is  this  all  for  the  poor  boy?  " 

"  Every  word.  Those  who  have  the  mis- 
fortune to  be  rich  men's  sons  are  heavily 
weighted  in  the  race.  A  basketful  of  bonds 
is  the  heaviest  basket  a  young  man  ever  had  to 
carry.  He  generally  gets  to  staggering  under 
it.  The  vast  majority  of  rich  men's  sons  are 
unable  to  resist  the  temptations  to  which  wealth 
subjects  them,  and  they  sink  to  unworthy  lives. 
It  is  not  from  this  class  that  the  poor  beginner 
has  rivalry  to  fear.  The  partner's  sons  will  never 
trouble  you  much,  but  look  out  that  some  boys 
poorer,  much  poorer,  than  yourselves,  whose 
parents  cannot  afford  to  give  them  any  school- 
ing, do  not  challenge  you  at  the  post  and  pass 
you  at  the  grand  stand.  Look  out  for  the  boy 
who  has  to  plunge  into  work  direct  from  the 

274 


Andrew  Carnegie 

common  school,  and  begins  by  sweeping  out 
the  office.  He  is  the  probable  dark  horse  that 
will  take  all  the  money  and  win  all  the  ap- 
plause." 1 


1  Mr.  Carnegie's  recent  retirement  from  business,  and 
the  sale  of  his  vast  properties  to  the  Morgan  Syndicate, 
marks  a  new  era  in  his  remarkable  career;  and  it  gives 
him  the  more  leisure  to  consider  carefully  every 
dollar  he  bestows  in  the  series  of  magnificent  charities 
that  he  has  inaugurated. 


275 


XVII 

Herreshoff,  the  Yacht  Builder 
I 

THE  VOYAGE  OF  LIFE 

Total  eclipse;  no  sun,  no  moon; 
Darkness  amid  the  blaze  of  noon!— MILTON 

AMID  the  ranks  of  the  blind,  we  often 
find  men  and  women  of  culture  and 
general  ability,  but  we  do  not  look  for 
world-renowned  specialists.  No  one  is  sur- 
prised at  a  display  of  enterprise  in  a  "  boom- 
ing "  western  town,  where  everybody  is  "  hust- 
ling; "  but  in  a  place  which  has  once  ranked  as 
the  third  seaport  in  America,  but  has  seen  its 
maritime  glory  decline,  a  man  who  can  estab- 
lish a  marine  industry  on  a  higher  plane  than 
was  ever  before  known,  and  attract  to  his  work 
such  world-wide  attention  as  to  restore  the 
vanished  fame  of  his  town,  is  no  ordinary  per- 

276 


Herreshoff,  the  Yacht  Builder 

son.  Moreover,  if  such  a  man  has  laid  his 
plans  and  done  his  work  in  the  disheartening 
eclipse  of  total  blindness,  he  must  possess  quali- 
ties of  the  highest  order. 

The  office  of  the  Herreshoff  Manufacturing 
Company,  at  Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  is  in  a 
building  that  formerly  belonged  to  the  Burn- 
side  Rifle  Company.  It  is  substantial,  but  un- 
pretentious, and  is  entered  by  a  short  stairway 
on  one  side.  The  furniture  throughout  is  also 
plain,  but  has  been  selected  with  excellent 
taste,  and  is  suggestive  of  the  most  effective 
adaptation  of  means  to  ends  in  every  detail. 
On  the  mantel  and  on  the  walls  are  numerous 
pictures,  most  of  them  of  vessels,  but  very  few 
relating  directly  to  any  of  the  great  races  for 
the  "  America's "  cup.  The  first  picture  to 
arrest  one's  attention,  indeed,  is  an  excellent 
portrait  of  the  late  General  Ambrose  E.  Burn- 
side,  who  lived  in  Bristol,  and  was  an  intimate 
friend  of  John  B.  Herreshoff. 

Previous  inquiry  had  elicited  the  informa- 
tion that  the  members  of  the  firm  are  very  busy 
with  various  large  orders,  in  addition  to  the 
rush  of  work  on  Cup  Defenders;  so  it  was  a 
very  agreeable  surprise  when  I  was  invited  into 
the  tasteful  private  office,  where  the  blind  presi- 


How  They  Succeeded 

dent  siat,  having  just  concluded  a  short  conver- 
sation with  an  attorney. 


"  LET  THE  WORK  SHOW 


"  Well,  sir/'  said  he,  rising  and  grasping  my 
hand  cordially,  "  what  do  you  wish  ?  " 

"  I  realize  how  very  busy  you  must  be,  Mr. 
Herreshoff,"  I  replied,  and  will  try  to  be  as 
brief  as  possible;  but  I  venture  to  ask  a  few 
minutes  of  your  time,  to  obtain  suggestions  and 
advice  from  you  to  young  people." 

"  But  why  select  me,  in  particular,  as  an  ad- 
viser? " 

This  was  "  a  poser,'*  at  first,  especially  when 
he  added,  noting  my  hesitation  :  — 

"  We  are  frequently  requested  to  give  inter- 
views in  regard  to  our  manufacturing  business  ; 
but,  since  as  it  is  the  settled  policy  of  our  house 
to  do  our  work  just  as  well  as  we  possibly  can 
and  then  leave  it  to  speak  for  itself,  we  have 
felt  obliged  to  decline  all  these  requests.  It 
would  be  repugnant  to  our  sense  of  propriety 
to  talk  in  public  about  our  special  industry. 
'  Let  the  work  show  !  '  seems  to  us  a  good 
motto." 


278 


Herreshoff,  the  Yacht  Builder 

THE  VOYAGE  OF  LIFE 

"True,"  said  I.  "But  the  readers  of  my 
books  may  not  care  to  read  of  cutters  or 
'  skimming  dishes/  center-boards  or  fin  keels,  or 
copper  coils  versus  steel  tubes  for  boilers.  They 
leave  the  choice  in  such  matters  to  you,  real- 
izing that  you  have  always  proved  equal  to  the 
situation.  What  I  want  now  is  advice  in  regard 
to  the  race  of  life, — the  voyage  in  which  each 
youth  must  be  his  own  captain,  but  in  which 
the  words  of  others  who  have  successfully 
sailed  the  sea  before  will  help  to  avoid  rocks 
and  shoals,  and  to  profit  by  favoring  currents 
and  trade  winds.  You  have  been  handicapped 
in  an  unusual  degree,  sailing  in  total  darkness 
and  beset  by  many  other  difficulties,  but  have, 
nevertheless,  made  a  very  prosperous  voyage. 
In  overcoming  such  serious  obstacles,  you  must 
have  learned  much  of  the  true  philosophy  of 
both  success  and  failure,  and  I  think  you  will 
be  willing  to  help  the  young  with  suggestions 
drawn  from  your  experience." 

"  I  always  want  to  help  young  people,  or  old 
people,  either,  for  that  matter,  if  anything  I 
can  say  will  do  so.  But  what  can  I  say  ?  " 

279 


How  They  Succeeded 

A  MOTHER'S  MIGHTY  INFLUENCE 

"  What  do  you  call  the  prime  requisite  of 
success  ?  " 

"  I  shall  have  to  answer  that  by  a  somewhat 
humorous  but  very  shrewd  suggestion  of  an- 
other,— select  a  good  mother.  Especially  for 
boys,  I  consider  an  intelligent,  affectionate  but 
considerate  mother  an  almost  indispensable 
requisite  to  the  highest  success.  If  you  would 
improve  the  rising  generation  to  the  utmost, 
appeal  first  to  the  mothers." 

"In  what  way?" 

"  Above  all  things  else,  show  them  that  rea- 
sonable self-denial  is  a  thousandfold  better  for 
a  boy  than  to  have  his  every  wish  gratified. 
Teach  them  to  encourage  industry,  economy, 
concentration  of  attention  and  purpose,  and  in- 
domitable persistence." 

"  But  most  mothers  try  to  do  this,  don't 
they?" 

"  Yes,  in  a  measure ;  but  many  of  them,  per- 
haps most  of  them,  do  not  emphasize  the  mat- 
ter half  enough.  A  mother  may  wish  to  teach 
all  these  lessons  to  her  son,  but  she  thinks  too 
much  of  him,  or  believes  she  does,  to  have  him 
suffer  any  deprivation,  and  so  indulges  him  in 

280 


Herreshoff,  the  Yacht  Builder 

things  which  are  luxuries  for  him,  under  the 
circumstances,  rather  than  necessaries.  Many 
a  boy,  born  with  ordinary  intellect,  would  fol- 
low the  example  of  an  industrious  father,  were 
it  not  that  his  mother  wishes  him  to  appear  as 
well  as  any  boy  in  the  neighborhood.  So,  with- 
out exactly  meaning  it,  she  gets  to  making  a 
show  of  her  boy,  and  brings  him  up  with  a 
habit  of  idling  away  valuable  time,  to  keep  up 
appearances.  The  prudent  mother,  however, 
sees  the  folly  of  this  course,  and  teaches  her 
son  to  excel  in  study  and  work,  rather  than  in 
vain  display.  The  difference  in  mothers  makes 
all  the  difference  in  the  world  to  children,  who 
like  brooks,  can  be  turned  very  easily  in  their 
course  of  life." 

SELF   HELP 

"  What  ranks  next  in  importance?  " 
"  Boys  and  girls  themselves,  especially  as 
they  grow  older,  and  have  a  chance  to  under- 
stand what  life  means,  should  not  only  help 
their  parents  as  a  matter  of  duty,  but  should 
learn  to  help  themselves,  for  their  own  good. 
I  would  not  have  them  forego  recreation,  a 
reasonable  amount  every  day,  but  let  them 
learn  the  reality  and  earnestness  of  existence, 

281 


How  They  Succeeded 

and  resolve  to  do  the  whole  work  and  the  very 
best  work  of  thorough,  reliable  young  men  and 


WHAT  CAREER 

"  What  would  you  advise  as  to  choosing  a 
career  ?  " 

"  In  that  I  should  be  governed  largely  by 
the  bent  of  each  youth.  What  he  likes  to  do 
best  of  all,  that  he  should  do;  and  he  should 
try  to  do  it  better  than  anyone  else.  That  is 
legitimate  emulation.  Let  him  devote  his  full 
energy  to  his  work;  with  the  provision,  how- 
ever, that  he  needs  change  or  recreation  more 
in  proportion  as  he  uses  his  brain  more.  The 
more  muscular  the  work,  if  not  too  heavy,  the 
more  hours,  is  a  good  rule:  the  more  brain 
work,  the  fewer  hours;  Children  at  school 
should  not  be  expected  to  work  so  long  or  so 
hard  as  if  engaged  in  manual  labor.  Tempera- 
ment, too,  should  be  considered.  A  highly  or- 
ganized, nervous  person,  like  a  racehorse,  may 
display  intense  activity  for  a  short  time,  but  it 
should  be  followed  by  a  long  period  of  rest; 
while  the  phlegmatic  person,  like  the  ox  or  the 
draft  horse,  can  go  all  day  without  injury." 

282 


Herreshoff,  the  Yacht  Builder 

EDUCATION 

"  I  believe  in  education  most  thoroughly,  and 
think  no  one  can  have  too  much  knowledge,  if 
properly  digested.  But  in  many  of  our  col- 
leges, I  have  often  thought,  not  more  than  one 
in  five  is  radically  improved  by  the  course. 
Most  collegiates  waste  too  much  time  in  frivol- 
ity, and  somehow  there  seems  to  be  little  re- 
straining power  in  the  college  to  prevent  this. 
I  agree  that  students  should  have  self-restraint 
and  application  themselves,  but,  in  the  absence 
of  these,  the  college  should  supply  more  com- 
pulsion than  is  now  the  rule." 

APPRENTICES 

"  Do  you  favor  reviving  the  old  apprentice 
system  for  would-be  mechanics?" 

"  Only  in  rare  cases.  As  a  rule,  we  have 
special  machines  now  that  do  as  perfect  work 
as  the  market  requires;  some  of  them,  indeed, 
better  work  than  can  be  done  by  hand.  A  boy 
or  man  can  soon  learn  to  tend  one  of  these, 
when  he  becomes,  for  ordinary  purposes,  a  spe- 
cialist. Very  few  shops  now  have  apprentices. 
No  rule,  however,  will  apply  to  all,  and  it  may 
still  be  best  for  one  to  serve  an  apprenticeship 

283 


How  They  Succeeded 

in  a  trade  in  which  he  wishes  to  advance  be- 
yond any  predecessor  or  competitor." 

PREPARE  TO  THE  UTMOST  I  THEN  DO  YOUR 
BEST 

"  Is  success  dependent  more  upon  ability  or 
opportunity?  " 

"  Of  course,  opportunity  is  necessary.  You 
couldn't  run  a  mammoth  department  store  on 
the  desert  of  Sahara.  But,  given  the  possi- 
bility, the  right  man  can  make  his  opportunity, 
and  should  do  so,  if  it  is  not  at  hand,  or  does 
not  come,  after  reasonable  waiting.  Even  Na- 
poleon had  to  wait  for  his.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  there  is  no  ability,  none  can  display  itself, 
and  the  best  opportunity  must  pass  by  unim- 
proved. The  true  way  is  to  first  develop  your 
ability  to  the  last  ounce,  and  then  you  will  be 
ready  for  your  opportunity,  when  it  comes,  or 
to  make  one,  if  none  offers." 

PRESENT  OPPORTUNITIES 

"  Is  the  chance  for  a  youth  as  good  as  it  was 
twenty-five  or  fifty  years  ago  ?  " 

"  Yes,  and  no.  In  any  country,  as  it  be- 
comes more  thickly  populated,  the  chance  for 
purely  individual  enterprises  is  almost  sure  to 

284. 


Herreshoff,  the  Yacht  Builder 

diminish.  One  notices  this  more  as  he  travels 
through  other  and  older  countries,  where,  far 
more  than  with  us,  boys  follow  in  the  foot- 
steps of  their  fathers,  generation  after  genera- 
tion. But  for  those  who  are  willing  to  adapt 
themselves  to  circumstances,  the  chance,  to- 
day, at  least  from  a  pecuniary  standpoint,  is 
better  than  ever  before,  for  those  starting  in 
life.  There  was  doubtless  more  chance  for  the 
individual  boat-builder,  in  the  days  of  King 
Philip,  when  each  Indian  made  his  own  canoe; 
but  there  is  certainly  more  profit  now  for  an 
employee  of  our  firm  of  boat-builders." 

NATURAL  EXECUTIVE  ABILITY 

"  Granted,  however,  that  he  can  find  employ- 
ment, how  do  his  chances  of  rising  compare 
with  those  of  your  youth  ?  " 

"  They  still  depend  largely  upon  the  indi- 
vidual. Some  seem  to  have  natural  executive 
ability,  and  others  develop  it,  while  most  men 
never  possess  it.  Those  who  lack  it  cannot 
hope  to  rise  far,  and  never  could.  Jefferson's 
idea  that  all  men  are  created  equal  is  true 
enough,  perhaps,  so  far  as  their  political  rights 
are  concerned,  but  from  the  point  of  view  of 
efficiency  in  business,  it  is  ridiculous.  In  any 

285 


How  They  Succeeded 

shop  of  one  hundred  men,  you  will  find  one 
who  is  acknowledged,  at  least  tacitly,  as  the 
leader,  and  he  sooner  or  later  becomes  so  in 
fact.  A  rich  boy  may  get  and  hold  a  place  in 
an  office,  on  account  of  his  wealth  or  influence ; 
but  in  the  works,  merit  alone  will  enable  a  man 
to  hold  a  place  long." 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  POWER 

"  But  what  is  his  chance  of  becoming  a  pro- 
prietor?" 

"  That  is  smaller,  of  course,  as  establish- 
ments grow  larger  and  more  valuable.  It  is  all 
bosh  for  every  man  to  expect  to  become  a  Van- 
derbilt  or  a  Rockefeller,  or  to  be  President. 
But,  in  the  long  run,  a  man  will  still  rise  and 
prosper  in  almost  exact  proportion  to  his  real 
value  to  the  business  world.  He  will  rise  or  fall 
according  to  his  ability." 

"  Can  he  develop  ability  ?  " 

"  Yes,  to  a  certain  extent.  As  I  have  said, 
we  are  not  all  alike,  and  no  amount  of  cultiva- 
tion will  make  some  minds  equal  to  those  of 
others  who  have  had  but  little  training.  But, 
whether  great  or  small,  everyone  has  some 
weak  point;  let  him  first  study  to  overcome 
that." 

286 


Herreshoff,  the  Yacht  Builder 

"How  can  he  do  it?" 

"  The  only  way  I  know  of  is  to — do  it.  But 
this  brings  me  back  to  what  I  told  you  at  first. 
A  good  mother  will  show  one  how  to  guard 
against  his  weak  points.  She  should  study 
each  child  and  develop  his  individual  character, 
for  character  is  the  true  foundation,  after  all. 
She  should  check  extravagance  and  encourage 
industry  and  self-respect.  My  mother  is  one 
of  the  best,  and  I  feel  I  owe  her  a  debt  I  can 
never  repay." 

"  MY   MOTHER  " 

"  Your  mother  ?  Why,  I  thought  you  had 
been  a  boatbuilder  for  half  a  century!  How 
old  is  she?" 

"  She  is  eighty-eight,  and  still  enjoys  good 
health.  If  I  have  one  thing  more  than  another 
to  be  thankful  for,  it  is  her  care  in  childhood 
and  her  advice  and  sympathy  through  life. 
How  often  have  I  thought  of  her  wisdom  when 
I  have  seen  mothers  from  Europe  (where  they 
were  satisfied  to  be  peasants),  seek  to  outshine 
all  their  neighbors  after  they  have  been  in 
America  a  few  years,  and  so  bring  financial 
ruin  to  their  husbands  or  even  goad  them  into 
crime,  and  curse  their  children  with  contempt 

287 


How  They  Succeeded 

for  honest  labor  in  positions  for  which  they  are 
fitted,  and  a  foolish  desire  to  keep  up  appear- 
ances, even  by  living  beyond  their  means  and 
by  seeking  positions  they  cannot  fill  properly." 

A  BOAT  BUILDER  IN  YOUTH 

"You  must  have  been  quite  young,  when 
you  began  to  build  boats  ?  " 

"  About  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  old.  You 
see,  my  father  was  an  amateur  boat-builder,  in 
a  small  way,  and  did  very  good  work,  but  usu- 
ally not  for  sale.  But  I  began  the  work  as  a 
business  thirty-six  years  ago,  when  I  was  about 
twenty-two." 

HE  WOULD  NOT  BE  DISCOURAGED 

"  You  must  have  been  terribly  handicapped 
by  your  blindness." 

"  It  was  an  obstacle,  but  I  simply  would  not 
allow  it  to  discourage  me,  and  did  my  best,  just 
the  same  as  if  I  could  see.  My  mother  had 
taught  me  to  think,  and  so  I  made  thought  and 
memory  take  the  place  of  eyes.  I  acquired  a 
kind  of  habit  of  mental  projection  which  has 
enabled  me  to  see  models  in  my  mind,  as  it 
were,  and  to  consider  their  good  and  bad  points 
intelligently.  Besides,  I  cultivated  my  powers 

288 


Herreshoff,  the  Yacht  Builder 

of  observation  to  the  utmost,  in  other  respects. 
Even  now,  I  take  an  occasional  trip  of  observa- 
tion, for  I  like  to  see  what  others  are  doing, 
and  so  keep  abreast  of  the  progress  of  the  age. 
But  I  must  stop  or  I  shall  get  to  '  talking  shop/ 
the  thing  I  declined  to  do  at  first. 

THE  SUM   OF  IT  ALL 

"  The  main  thing  for  a  boy  is  to  have  a  good 
mother,  to  heed  her  advice,  to  do  his  best,  and 
not  get  a  '  swelled  head  '  as  he  rises, — in  other 
words,  not  to  expect  to  put  a  gallon  into  a  pint 
cup,  or  a  bushel  into  a  peck  measure.  Concen- 
tration, decision,  industry  and  economy  should 
be  his  watchwords,  and  invincible  determina- 
tion and  persistence  his  rule  of  action. " 

With  another  cordial  handshake,  he  bade  me 
good-by. 

II 

WHAT  THE  HERRESHOFF  BROTHERS  HAVE 
BEEN  DOING 

Their  recent  Cup  Defenders  have  made  their 
names  familiar  to  all,  but  shipping  circles  have 
long  known  them.  The  business  of  the  firm 
was  long  confined  almost  wholly  to  the  creation 

289 


How  They  Succeeded 

of  boats  with  single  masts,  each  craft  from 
twenty  to  thirty-six  feet  long.  In  their  first  ten 
years  of  associated  work,  they  built  nearly  two 
thousand  of  these.  But  they  were  wonderful 
little  boats,  and  of  unrivaled  swiftness.  Then 
they  made  as  wonderful  a  success  in  building 
steam  fishing  yachts.  Then  came  torpedo  boats. 
And  in  1881  their  proposal  to  the  British 
government  to  build  two  vedette  boats  was  ac- 
cepted on  condition  they  should  outmatch  the 
work  of  White,  the  naval  launch  builder  at 
Cowes.  No  firm  had  ever  been  able  to  com- 
pete with  White.  But  in  the  following  July 
the  two  HerreshofT  boats  were  in  the  Ports- 
mouth dockyard,  England,  ready  for  trial. 
They  were  each  forty-eight  feet  long,  nine  feet 
in  beam,  and  five  feet  deep,  exactly  the  same 
size  as  White's.  They  made  fifteen  and  one- 
half  knots  an  hour,  while  White's  only  re- 
corded twelve  and  two-fifths  knots.  "  With 
all  their  machinery  coal  and  water  in  place, 
the  Herreshofr"  boats  were  filled  with  water, 
and  then  twenty  men  were  put  aboard  each, 
that  human  load  being  just  so  much  in  excess 
the  admiralty  test,  and  even  then  each  had  a 
floating  capacity  of  three  tons.  The  examin- 
ers pronounced  enthusiastically  in  favor  of  the 

290 


^ 


I 

I 


Herreshoff,  the  Yacht  Builder 

Herreshoff  safety  coil  boilers  as  unexplodable, 
less  liable  to  injury  from  shock,  capable  of  rais- 
ing steam  more  quickly,  far  lighter,  and  in  all 
respects  superior  to  those  that  had  been  form- 
erly used  for  the  purpose."  The  boats  were  ac- 
cepted, and  orders  given  at  once  for  two  pin- 
naces, each  thirty-three  feet  long.  Again  John 
Samuel  White  competed,  but  his  new  boats 
could  only  make  seven  and  one-eighth  knots, 
while  the  HerreshofFs  easily  scored  nine  and 
one-quarter. 

RACING  JAY  GOULD 

In  July,  1883,  Jay  Gould  was  highly  elated 
over  the  speed  of  his  beautiful  steam  yacht 
"  Atalanta,"  which  had  several  times  met  and 
distanced  Edward  S.  Jaffray's  wonderful 
"  Stranger ;  "  but,  on  the  twentieth  of  that 
month,  his  happiness,  as  the  story  is  told,  was 
very  suddenly  dashed. 

After  a  hard  day's  work,  the  jaded  Jay 
boarded  the  "  Atalanta  "  and  began  to  shake 
out  his  pin-feathers  a  little,  figuratively  speak- 
ing. But  before  his  boat  had  gone  far  on  her 
run  to  Irvington,  the  bold  manipulator  of  Wall 
Street  made  out  a  craft  on  his  weather-quarter 
that  seemed  to  be  gliding  after  the  "  Atalanta  " 

291 


How  They  Succeeded 

with  intent  to  overhaul  her.  He  had  a  good 
start,  however,  and  sang  out  to  the  captain  to 
keep  a  sharp  eye  on  the  persistent  little 
stranger,  so  unlike  the  "  Stranger "  he  had 
vanquished. 

"  I  wonder  what  it  is ! "  he  exclaimed  to  a 
friend  beside  him. 

The  friend  looked  long  and  carefully  at  the 
oncoming  iboat,  then  turned  a  quizzical  eye  on 
Jay,  remarking: — 

"In  a  little  while  we  can  tell." 

"Will  she  get  that  close?" 

"  I  think  she  will." 

It  was  not  long  before  the  strange  boat  was 
abreast  of  the  "Atalanta,"  and  Jay  was  then 
able  to  make  out  the  mystical  number  "  100  " 
on  her.  He  rubbed  his  eyes.  Those  were  the 
very  figures  he  had  long  hoped  to  see  on  the 
stock  ticker,  after  the  words  "  Western 
Union,"  but  that  day  they  had  lost  their  charm. 
Before  long  he  was  not  only  able  to  see  the 
broadside  of  the  "  100,"  but  also  had  a  good 
view  of  the  stern  of  the  vessel,  whereon  the 
same  figures  soon  appeared  and  nearly  as  soon 
disappeared,  as  the  "  100  "  bade  good-by  to  the 
"  Atalanta,"  which  was  burning  every  pound 
of  coal  that  could  possibly  be  carried  without 

292 


Herreshoff,  the  Yacht  Builder 

putting  Mr.  Gould  or  some  efficient  substitute 
on  the  safety  valve. 

"  He  seems  to  be  out  of  humor  to-night," 
said  his  coachman,  after  leaving  his  employer 
at  the  door  of  his  Irvington  mansion. 

The  mystic  "  100  "  which,  by  the  way,  was 
just  one  hundred  feet  over  all,  was  merely  the 
hundredth  steamer  built  by  the  Herreshoffs, 
but  on  her  first  trip  up  the  Hudson  she  at- 
tracted as  much  attention  as  the  "  Half  Moon  " 
of  Henry  Hudson  or  the  "  Clermont "  of  Rob- 
ert Fulton.  She  was  the  fastest  yacht  in  the 
world,  and  was  beaten  on  the  river  by  only  one 
vessel,  the  "  Mary  Powell  " — four  and  one-half 
minutes  in  twenty  miles. 

Although  Mr.  Gould  was  considerably  irri- 
tated at  his  defeat,  he  knew  a  good  thing  when 
he  saw  it,  and  the  next  year  he  ordered  a  small 
steam  launch  of  the  Herreshoffs/. 

The  "  100 "  made  a  great  stir  in  Boston 
Harbor.  Later  on  she  steamed  through  the 
Erie  canal  and  the  Great  Lakes,  and  made  her 
home  with  the  millionaire  Mark  Hopkins. 


THE  ff  STILETTO  " 


The  versatility  of  the  Herreshoffs  has  ap- 
peared in  their  famous  boiler  improvement,  and 

293 


How  They  Succeeded 

in  the  great  variety  of  vessels  they  have  built. 
The  "  Stiletto  "  only  ninety- four  feet  long, 
over  all,  astonished  the  yachting  world  in  1885. 
On  June  10,  she  beat  the  "  Mary  Powell "  two 
miles  in  a  race  of  twenty-eight  miles  on  the 
Hudson.  At  one  time,  the  "  Stiletto  "  circled 
completely  around  the  big  steamer  and  then 
moved  rapidly  away  from  her. 

Secretary  Whitney  bought  the  "  Stiletto  " 
for  the  United  States  navy,  in  which  she  has 
done  valuable  service.  She  was  followed,  in 
1890,  by  the  still  faster  "  Gushing,"  whose  rec- 
ord in  the  recent  Spanish-American  war  is  so 
well  known. 

Admiral  Porter  wrote  to  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  Chandler,  that  the  little  Herreshoff 
steam  launches  were  faster  than  any  other 
owned  by  the  government,  their  great  superior- 
ity showing  especially  against  a  strong  head 
wind  and  sea,  when  they  would  remain  dry 
while  their  rivals  required  constant  bailing. 
They  were  better  trimmed,  lighter,  more  buoy- 
ant, and  in  every  way  superior  in  nautical  qual- 
ities, and  twice  as  fast  as  others  in  a  gale. 

Nineteen  vessels  have  been  built  by  this  firm 
for  the  United  States  government. 

"  There  is  a  certain  speed  that  attaches  to 

294 


Herreshoff,  the  Yacht  Builder 

every  vessel,  which  may  be  called  its  natural 
rate,"  says  Lewis  Herreshoff;  "it  is  mainly 
governed  by  its  length  and  the  length  of  the 
carrier  wave  which  always  accompanies  a  ves- 
sel parallel  to  her  line  of  motion.  When  she 
reaches  a  speed  great  enough  to  form  a  wave  of 
the  same  length  as  the  moving  body,  then  that 
vessel  has  reached  her  natural  rate  of  speed, 
and  all  that  can  be  obtained  above  that  is  done 
by  sheer  brute  force.  The  natural  limit  of  speed 
of  a  boat  forty  feet  long  is  about  ten  miles  an 
hour;  of  a  vessel  sixty  feet  in  length,  twelve 
and  one-quarter  miles;  of  one  a  hundred  feet 
long,  fifteen  and  three-fourths  miles;  of  one 
two  hundred  feet  long,  twenty-two  miles." 

As  the  speed  is  increased,  this  double  or  car- 
rier wave,  one-half  on  either  side  of  the  yacht, 
lengthens  in  such  a  way  that  the  vessel  seems 
to  settle  more  the  faster  she  goes,  and  so  has 
to  climb  the  very  wave  she  makes.  Hence  the 
motive  power  must  be  increased  much  faster 
than  the  speed  increases.  Further,  in  order  to 
avoid  this  settling  and  consequent  climbing  as 
much  as  possible,  lightness  of  construction, 
next  to  correct  proportions,  is  made  the  great 
desideratum  in  the  Herreshoffs'  ideal  boat. 
They  use  wood  wherever  possible,  as  it  is  not 

295 


How  They  Succeeded 

only  lighter  than  metal,  but  is  reasonably  strong 
and  generally  much  more  durable.  Wherever 
heavy  strains  come,  a  bracing  form  of  con- 
struction is  adopted,  and  metal  is  used  also. 

The  engine  of  the  "  Stiletto "  weighs  ten 
pounds  for  each  indicated  horse-power;  that 
of  the  "  Gushing,"  fifteen.  The  entire  motive 
plant  of  the  "  Gushing "  weighs  sixty-five 
pounds  for  each  horse-power ;  that  of  the  "  City 
of  Paris,"  two  hundred.  Comparing  displace- 
ment, the  former  has  eight  times  the  power  of 
the  latter. 

For  four  years  our  government  kept  a  staff 
of  officers  stationed  at  the  Herreshoff  works  to 
experiment  with  high-speed  machinery,  in 
which  the  firm  then  led  the  country.  One  of 
their  steamers,  ascending  the  St.  Lawrence 
River  to  the  Thousand  Islands,  ran  up  all  the 
rapids  except  the  Lachine,  where  a  detour  by 
canal  was  made.  The  Canadians  were  deeply 
impressed  by  this  triumph. 

THE  BLIND  BROTHERS 

One  of  the  Herreshoff  sisters  is  blind  and  a 
remarkable  musician;  and  one  brother  blind 
who  studied  music  in  Berlin,  and  who  conducts 
a  school  of  music  in  Providence.  Lewis  Her- 

296 


Herreshoff,  the  Yacht  Builder 

reshoff,  one  of  the  boat-builders,  is  also  blind. 
He,  too,  is  a  fine  musician  and  an  excellent 
bass  singer,  having  received  careful  vocal  train- 
ing in  Europe.  He  has  fine  literary  taste,  a 
very  clear  style,  and  writes  for  magazines, 
especially  on  boat-building  and  engineering. 
He  has  a  large  foreign  correspondence,  all  of 
which  he  answers  personally  on  the  typewriter. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  greater  favorite 
with  young  people,  to  whom  he  devotes  much 
of  his  time,  teaching  them  games  or  lessons, 
also  how  to  sail  or  row  a  boat,  how  to  swim  or 
float,  and  how  to  save  each  other  from  drown- 
ing. When  walking  along  the  street  with  a 
group  of  chatting  children,  he  will  ask,  "  What 
time  is  it  by  the  clock  on  St.  Michael's 
Church  ?  "  pointing  right  at  the  steeple.  He 
will  wind  a  clock  and  set  it  exactly,  and  regu- 
late it,  if  it  does  not  go  right. 

THE    PERSONALITY    OF    JOHN    B.    HERRESHOFP 

From  his  boyhood,  John  B.  Herreshoff 
evinced  a  great  fondness  for  boats  and  machin- 
ery, finding  most  pleasure,  in  his  leisure  hours, 
when  boys  of  his  age  usually  think  only  of  play, 
in  haunting  boat-builders'  yards  and  machine 
shops,  studying  how  and  why  things  were 


How  They  Succeeded 

done,  and  reading  what  had  been  done  else- 
where in  those  branches  of  industry,  beyond  his 
field  of  observation. 

At  the  age  of  eleven,  he  was  studying  the 
best  lines  for  vessels'  hulls  and  making  models 
and  three  years  later  he  began  building  boats. 

His  terrible  affliction  has  never  seemed  to 
weaken  his  self-reliance  or  turn  him  aside  from 
following  the  chosen  pursuit  of  his  life,  but  has 
rather  strengthened  his  devotion  to  it  and  his 
capacity  for  it  by  concentrating  all  his  faculties 
upon  it. 

His  many  years  of  blindness  have  given  him 
not  only  the  serious,  patient,  introspective  look 
common  to  those  who  suffer  like  him,  and  their 
gentle,  clearly  modulated  voice,  but  have  also 
developed  all  his  other  faculties  to  such  an  ex- 
tent as  to  largely  replace  the  missing  sense. 

He  can  tell  as  much  about  an  ordinary-sized 
steam  launch,  her  lines,  methods  of  construc- 
tion, etc.,  by  feeling,  as  others  can  by  seeing, 
and  he  goes  on  inventing  and  building  just  as  if 
his  eyes  were  not  closed  forever.  He  is  a  tall, 
big-brained  man,  who  couldn't  help  inventing 
and  working  if  he  tried.  Such  a  man  would 
have  to  suffer  the  loss  of  more  than  one  of  his 

298 


Herreshoff,  the  Yacht  Builder 

senses  before  his  mental  efficiency  would  be 
impaired.  When  he  wanted  to  build  some 
steam  launches  for  the  government,  he  went 
to  the  navy  yard  at  Washington  and  felt  of  the 
government  launches,  to  discover  their  shape 
and  how  they  were  made.  Then  he  went  to 
Bristol  and  made  better  launches  suitable  for 
the  government's  use. 

HAS  HE  A  SIXTH  SENSE? 

He  reads  and  understands  the  most  delicate 
intonations  and  modulations  of  voices  address- 
ing him,  as  others  read  and  understand  facial 
expression.  His  sensitive  fingers  detect  dif- 
ferences in  metals,  and  follow,  as  if  with  a  gift 
of  perception,  the  lines  of  models  submitted  to 
him,  and  his  mind  sees  even  more  clearly  than  by 
mere  physical  sight  the  intricacies  of  the  most 
complicated  machinery  intelligently  described 
to  him,  or  over  which  his  fingers  are  allowed  to 
move.  "  That  is  a  good  stick,"  he  will  say,  ex- 
amining a  pile  of  lumber  with  his  fingers. 
"  Here's  a  shaky  piece,  throw  it  out;  it  won't 
do  for  this  work,"  may  come  next,  or,  "  Saw 
off  this  end;  it's  poor  stock.  The  rest  is  all 
right."  On  hearing  him  criticize,  direct,  and 
explain  things  within  his  province,  a  stranger 

299 


How  They  Succeeded 

finds  it  hard  to  believe  he  cannot  see  at  least  a 
little, — out  of  one  eye. 

SEEING  WITH   THE   FINGERS 

By  the  constant  practice,  he  has,  as  he  ex- 
presses it,  learned  to  see  with  his  hands,  not 
quite  so  quickly,  but  he  believes  as  perfectly,  as 
he  could  with  his  eyes,  and  this  means  more 
than  it  does  in  the  case  of  an  ordinary  blind 
man;  for,  by  a  touch,  he  can  tell  whether  the 
graceful  double  curves  of  a  boat's  bottom  arc 
in  correct  proportion,  one  with  another,  and 
then,  by  a  few  rapid  sweeps  of  his  hands,  over 
all,  he  can  instantly  judge  of  the  symmetry 
and  perfection  of  the  whole.  Even  more  than 
this,  he  will  give  minute  directions  to  the  car- 
penters and  mechanics,  running  his  hand  along 
the  piece  of  work  one  had  produced,  will  im- 
mediately detect  the  slightest  deviation  from 
the  instruction  he  has  given.  If  at  all  impa- 
tient, he  will  seize  the  plane  or  other  tool,  and 
do  the  work  himself.  And  yet  the  world  calls 
this  man  "  blind !  " 

While  skill  plays  a  material  part,  one  of  John 
B.  HerreshofFs  boats  is  a  product  of  the  mind, 
in  a  very  great  degree.  Psychologists  tell  us 
that  we  do  not  see  with  our  eyes,  but  with  the 

300 


Herreshoff,  the  Yacht  Builder 

brain  proper.  This  blind  man  sees,  and  con- 
structs, not  that  which  is  objective  and  real  to 
others,  but  that  which  is  evolved  from  a  trans- 
cendental intelligence  applied  to  the  most  prac- 
tical purposes. 

BROTHER  NAT 

One  of  the  brothers,  who  has  good  eyes,  is 
a  prominent  chemist  in  New  York;  and  one 
who  can  see  is  Nat  the  designer  for  the  boat- 
building. 

Nathaniel  G.,  the  great  yacht  designer,  was 
born  in  1848.  When  he  was1  not  more  than  two 
years  old,  he  was  often  found  asleep  on  the 
sand  along  shore,  with  the  rising  tide  washing 
his  bare  feet.  Whenever  he  was  missing,  he 
was  sought  for  first  on  the  shore,  where  he 
would  generally  be  found  watching  the  ships  or 
playing  with  toy  boats. 

At  nine  years  of  age,  he  was  an  excellent 
helmsman,  and  at  twelve  he  sailed  the 
"  Sprite  "  to  her  first  victory  and  won  a  prize. 
When  older  grown,  he  was  known  as  a  vigilant 
watcher  of  every  chance  as  well  as  a  skillful 
sailor.  Once,  when  steering  the  "  lanthe  "  in 
a  failing  wind,  he  veered  widely  from  a  crowd 
of  contestants,  so  as  to  run  into  a  good 

301 


How  They  Succeeded 

breeze  he  noted  far  to  starboard,  and  won 
the  race. 

He  took  a  four  years'  course  at  the  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technology,  and  then 
served  an  apprenticeship  with  the  famous  Cor- 
liss Engine  Company.  He  worked  on  the  great 
engine  at  the  Centennial  Exposition,  and  took 
a  course  of  engineering  abroad,  visiting  many 
noted  shipyards.  He  joined  the  firm  in  1877, 
fourteen  years  after  the  works  were  opened. 

Nathaniel  Greene  HerreshofT,  named  for 
General  Greene  of  Revolutionary  fame,  is  seven 
years  younger,  and  only  less  famous  than  his 
blind  brother  as  a  boat-builder, — only  second 
to  John  B.  in  about  the  same  way  that  Greene 
was  second  to  Washington.  "  General  Greene 
is  second  to  no  one,"  said  Washington.  John 
B.  would  have  done  splendid  work  without  Nat 
as  he  did  for  years  before  the  latter  joined  the 
firm,  but  it  would  have  been  in  a  smaller  way. 

For  years  John  B.,  his  father,  and  his  broth- 
ers, James  B.  or  Lewis,  and  Nathaniel  G.,  were 
accustomed  to  get  together  frequently  in  the 
dining-room  of  the  old  homestead,  and  talk  and 
plan  together  in  regard  to  boatbuilding.  Nat 
would  usually  make  the  first  model  on  lines 
previously  agreed  upon,  and  then  John  B. 

302 


Herreshoff,  the  Yacht  Builder 

would  feel  it  over  and  suggest  changes,  which 
would  be  made,  and  the  consultation  continued 
until  all  was  satisfactory. 

Nathaniel  is  described  as  "  a  tall,  thin  man, 
with  a  full  beard  and  a  stoop,"  the  latter  said 
to  have  been  acquired  in  "  watching  his  rivals 
in  his  races,  craning  his  head  in  order  to  see 
them  from  under  the  boom." 

"  We  have  been  always  together  from  boy- 
hood," said  John  B.,  speaking  of  "Nat;" 
"  we  have  had  the  same  pleasures,  the  same 
purposes,  the  same  aspirations;  in  fact,  we 
have  almost  been  one,  and  we  have  achieved 
nothing  for  which  a  full  share  of  credit  is  not 
his  just  due.  Nothing  has  ever  been  done  by 
one  without  the  other.  Whenever  one  found 
an  obstacle  or  difficulty,  the  other  helped  him  to 
remove  it;  and  he,  being  without  the  disad- 
vantage I  have,  never  makes  a  mistake." 


3°3 


XVIII 

A    Successful  Novelist:     Fame 
After  Fifty1 

Practical  Hints  to  Young  Authors, 
BY  MRS.  AMELIA  E.  BARR 

TO  be  successful !    That  is  the  legitimate 
ideal  every  true  worker  seeks  to  real- 
ize.    But  success  is  not  the  open  se- 
cret which  it  appears  to  be;    its  elements  are 
often  uncomprehended ;  and  its  roots  generally 
go  deep  down,  into  the  very  beginnings  of  life. 
I  can  compel  my  soul  to  look  back  into  that 
twilight  which  shrouds  my  earliest  years,  and 
perceive,  even  in  them,  monitions  and  tenden- 
cies working  for  that  future,  which  in  my  des- 

1  This  is  a  most  remarkable  story,  communicated  to 
me  by  Mrs.  Barr,  and  related  for  the  first  time  in  this 
article.  The  distinguished  novelist,  being  a  perfect 
housekeeper  and  the  mother  of  a  large  family,  yet  earns 
$20,000  a  year  by  her  books,  which  have  been  translated 
into  the  language  of  almost  every  civilized  country.— 

O.  S.  M. 

3°4 


Mrs.  Amelia  E.  Barr 

tiny  was  fashioned  and  shaped  when  as  yet 
there  was  neither  hint  nor  dream  of  it.  For- 
tunately, I  had  parents  who  understood  the 

VALUE  OF  BIBLICAL  AND  IMAGINATIVE  LITERA- 
TURE 

in  the  formation  of  the  intellect.  The  men  and 
women  whom  I  knew  first  and  best  were  those 
of  the  Hebrew  world.  Sitting  before  the 
nursery  fire,  while  the  snow  fell  softly  and 
ceaselessly,  and  all  the  mountains  round  were 
white,  and  the  streets  of  the  little  English  town 
choked  with  drifts,  I  could  see  the  camels  and 
the  caravans  of  the  Ishmaelitish  merchants, 
passing  through  the  hot,  sandy  desert.  I  could 
see  Hagar  weeping  under  the  palm,  and  the 
waters  of  the  Red  Sea  standing  up  like  a  wall. 
Miriam  clashing  the  timbrels,  and  Deborah 
singing  under  the  oak,  and  Ruth  gleaning  in 
the  wheatfields  of  Bethlehem,  were  as  real  to 
me  as  were  the  women  of  my  own  home.  Be- 
fore I  was  six  years  old,  I  had  been  with  Chris- 
tian to  the  Celestial  City,  and  had  watched, 
with  Crusoe,  the  mysterious  footprint  on  the 
sand,  and  the  advent  of  the  savages.  Then 
came  the  wonders  of  afrites  and  genii,  and  all 
the  marvels  and  miracles  of  the  Arabian  tales. 

3°5 


How  They  Succeeded 

These  were  the  mind-builders,  and  though 
schools  and  teachers  and  text-books  did  much 
afterwards,  I  can  never  nor  will  forget  the 
glorious  company  of  men  and  women  from  the 
sacred  world,  and  that  marvelous  company  of 
caliphs  and  kings  and  princesses  from  Wonder 
Land  and  Fairy  Land,  that  expanded  my  whole 
nature,  and  fitted  me  for  the  future  miracles  of 
Nature  and  Science,  and  all  the  marvelous  peo- 
ple of  the  Poet's  realm. 

For  eighteen  years  I  was  amassing  facts  and 
fancies,  developing  a  crude  intelligence,  wait- 
ing for  the  vitalization  of  the  heart.  Then 
Love,  the  Supreme  Teacher,  came;  and  his 
first  lesson  was, 

RENUNCIATION. 

I  was  to  give  up  father,  and  mother,  home  and 
kindred,  friends  and  country,  and  follow  where 
he  would  lead  me,  into  a  land  strange  and  far 
off.  Child-bearing  and  child-losing;  the  limi- 
tations and  delights  of  frontier  life;  the  inti- 
mate society  of  such  great  and  individual  men 
as  Sam  Houston,  and  the  men  who  fought  with 
him;  the  intense  feelings  induced  by  war,  its 
uncertainties  and  possibilities,  and  the  awful 
abiding  in  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death, 

306 


Mrs.  Amelia  E.  Barr 

with  the  pestilence  that  walked  in  darkness  arid 
the  sickness  that  destroyed  at  noonday; — all 
these  events  with  their  inevitable  "  asides " 
were  instrumental  in  the  education  and  prepa- 
ration of  the  seventeen  years  of  my  married 
life. 

The  calamitous  lesson  of  widowhood,  under 
peculiarly  tragic  circumstances,  was  the  last 
initiation  of  a  heart  already  broken  and  hum- 
bled before  Him  who  doeth  all  things  well,  no 
matter  how  hard  the  stroke  may  be.  I  thought 
all  was  over  then;  yet  all  was  just  beginning. 
It  was  the  open  door  to  a  new  life — a  life  full 
of  comforts,  and  serene,  still, 

DELIGHTFUL   STUDIES. 

Though  I  had  written  stories  to  please  my 
children,  and  many  things  to  please  myself,  it 
had  never  occurred  to  me  that  money  could  be 
made  by  writing.  The  late  William  Libbey, 
a  man  of  singular  wisdom  and  kindness,  first 
made  me  understand  that  my  brain  and  my 
ten  fingers  were  security  for  a  good  living. 
From  my  first  effort  I  began  to  gather  in  the 
harvest  of  all  my  years  of  study  and  reading 
and  private  writing.  For  there  is  this  pecu- 

3°7 


How  They  Succeeded 

liarity  about  writing — that  if  in  any  direction 
it  has  merit,  it  will  certainly  find  a  market. 

For  fifteen  years  I  wrote  short  stories, 
poems,  editorials,  and  articles  on  every  con- 
ceivable subject,  from  Herbert  Spencer's  theo- 
ries, to  gentlemen's  walking  sticks;  but  bring- 
ing to  every  piece  of  work,  if  it  was  only  ten 
lines,  the  best  of  my  knowledge  and  ability; 
and  so  earning,  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure, 
a  very  good  living.  During  the  earlier  years 
of  this  time  I  worked  and  read  on  an  average 

FIFTEEN  HOURS  A  DAY; 

for  I  knew  that,  to  make  good  work,  I  must 
have  constant  fresh  material;  must  keep  up 
to  date  in  style  and  method;  and  must  there- 
fore read  far  more  than  I  wrote.  But  I  have 
been  an  omnivorous  reader  all  my  life  long, 
and  no  changes,  no  cares  of  home  and  children, 
have  ever  interfered  with  this  mental  necessity. 
In  the  most  unlikely  places  and  circumstances, 
I  looked  for  books,  and  found  them.  These 
fifteen  years  on  the  weekly  and  monthly  peri- 
odicals gave  me  the  widest  opportunities  for 
information.  I  had  an  alcove  in  the  Astor 
Library,  and  I  practically  lived  in  it.  I  slept 
and  ate  at  home,  but  I  lived  in  that  City  of 

308 


Mrs.  Amelia  E,  Barr 

Books.  I  was  in  the  prime  of  life,  but  neither 
society,  amusements,  nor  pleasures  of  any  kind, 
could  draw  me  away  from  the  source  of  all  my 
happiness  and  profit. 

Suddenly,  after  this  long  novition,  I  received 
the  "  call  "  for  a  different  work.     I  had 

AN   ACCIDENT 

which  confined  me  to  my  room,  and  which,  I 
knew,  would  keep  me  from  active  work  for 
some  months1.  I  fretted  for  my  work,  as  dry 
wood  frets  an  inch  from  the  flame,  and  said, 
"  I  shall  lose  all  I  have  gained;  I  shall  fall  be- 
hind in  the  race;  all  these  things  are  against 
me."  They  were  all  for  me.  A  little  story 
of  what  seemed  exceptional  merit,  had  been 
laid  away,  in  the  hope  that  I  might  some  day 
find  time  to  extend  it  into  a  novel.  A  prisoner 
in  my  chair,  I  finished  the  book  in  six  weeks, 
and  sent  it  to  Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.  On  Thanks- 
giving morning,  a  letter  came,  accepting  the 
book,  and  any  of  my  readers  can  imagine  what 
a  happy  Thanksgiving  Day  that  was!  This 
book  was  "  Jan  Vedder's  Wife,"  and  its  great 
and  immediate  success  indicated  to  me  the  work 
I  was  at  length  ready  for.  I  was  then  in  my 
fifty-second  year,  and  every  year  had  been  a 

3°9 


How  They  Succeeded 

preparation  for  the  work  I  have  since  pursued. 
I  went  out  from  that  sick  room  sure  of  my 

VOCATION; 

and,  with  a  confidence  founded  on  the  certainty 
of  my  equipment,  and  a  determination  to  trust 
humanity,  and  take  my  readers  only  into  green 
pastures  and  ways  of  purity  and  heroism,  I 
ventured  on  my  new  path  as  a  novelist. 

I  cannot  close  this  paper  without  a  few 
words  to  those  who  wish  to  profit  by  it.  I 
want  them  to  be  sure  of  a  few  points  which,  in 
my  narrative,  I  may  not  have  emphasized  suffi- 
ciently. 

WORDS  OF  COUNSEL 

1.  Men  and  women  succeed  because  they 
take  pains  to  succeed.     Industry  and  patience 
are  almost  genius;    and  successful  people  are 
often  more  distinguished   for  resolution  and 
perseverance  than   for   unusual   gifts.     They 
make  determination  and  unity  of  purpose  sup- 
ply the  place  of  ability. 

2.  Success    is    the    reward    of    those    who 
"  spurn  delights  and  live  laborious  days."    We 
learn  to  do  things  by  doing  them.    One  of  the 
great  secrets  of  success  is  "pegging  away." 

310 


Mrs.  Amelia  E.  Ban- 
No  disappointment  must  discourage,  and  a  run 
back  must  often  be  allowed,  in  order  to  take  a 
longer  leap  forward. 

3.  No  opposition  must  be  taken  to  heart. 
Our   enemies   often   help   us   more   than   our 
friends.     Besides,  a  head-wind  is  better  than 
no  wind.     Who  ever  got  anywhere  in  a  dead 
calm? 

4.  A  fatal  mistake  is  to  imagine  that  success 
is  some  stroke  of  luck.     This  world  is  run 
with  far  too  tight  a  rein  for  luck  to  interfere. 
Fortune  sells  her  wares ;  she  never  gives  them. 
In  some  form  or  other,  we  pay  for  her  favors ; 
or  we  go  empty  away. 

5.  We   have   been    told,    for   centuries,    to 
watch  for  opportunities,  and  to  strike  while  the 
iron  is  hot.     Very  good;  but  I  think  better  of 
Oliver    Cromwell's    amendment. — "  make    the 
iron  hot  by  striking  it." 

6.  Everything  good  needs  time.     Don't  do 
work  in  a  hurry.     Go  into  details;    it  pays  in 
every  way.    Time  means  power  for  your  work. 
Mediocrity  is  always  in  a  rush;   but  whatever 
is  worth  doing  at  all  is  worth  doing  with  con- 
sideration.    For  genius  is  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  doing  well  what  anyone  can  do  badly. 

7.  Be    orderly.     Slatternly   work    is   never 

311 


How  They  Succeeded 

good  work.  It  is  either  affectation,  or  there  is 
some  radical  defect  in  the  intellect.  I  would 
distrust  even  the  spiritual  life  of  one  whose 
methods  and  work  were  dirty,  untidy,  and 
without  clearness  and  order. 

8.  Never  be  above  your  profession.     I  have 
had  many  letters  from  people  who  wanted  all 
the  emoluments  and  honors  of  literature,  and 
who  yet  said,  "  Literature  is  the  accident  of 
my  life ;  I  am  a  lawyer,  or  a  doctor,  or  a  lady, 
or  a  gentleman."     Literature  is  no  accident. 
]She  is  a  mistress  who  demands  the  whole  heart, 
the  whole  intellect,  and  the  whole  time  of  a 
devotee. 

9.  Don't  fail  through  defects  of  temper  and 
over-sensitiveness  at  moments  of  trial.     One 
of  the  great  helps  to  success  is  to  be  cheerful; 
to  go  to  work  with  a  full  sense  of  life;  to  be 
determined  to  put  hindrances  out  of  the  way; 
to  prevail  over  them  and  to  get  the  mastery. 
'Above  all  things  else,  be  cheerful;  there  is  no 
beatitude  for  the  despairing. 

Apparent  success  may  be  reached  by  sheer 
impudence,  in  defiance  of  offensive  demerit. 
But  men  who  get  what  they  are  manifestly 
unfit  for,  are  made  to  feel  what  people  think  of 
them.  Charlatanry  may  flourish;  but  when 

3I2 


Mrs.  Amelia  E.  Ban- 
ks bay  tree  is  greenest,  it  is  held  far  lower  than 
genuine  effort.     The  world  is  just;   it  may,  it 
does,  patronize  quacks ;  but  it  never  puts  them 
on  a  level  with  true  men. 

It  is  better  to  have  the  opportunity  of  vic- 
tory, than  to  be  spared  the  struggle;  for  suc- 
cess comes  but  as  the  result  of  arduous  experi- 
ence. The  foundations  of  my  success  were  laid 
before  I  can  well  remember;  it  was  after  at 
least  forty-five  years  of  conscious  labor  that  I 
reached  the  object  of  my  hope.  Many  a  time 
my  head  failed  me,  my  hands  failed  me,  my 
feet  failed  me,  but,  thank  God,  my  heart  never 
failed  me.  Because  /  knew  that  no  extremity 
would  find  God's  arm  shortened. 


XIX    m& 

How  Theodore  Thomas 
Brought  the  People  Nearer 
to  Music 

MR.  THOMAS  is  an  early  riser,  and  as 
I  found  him  one  morning,  in  his 
chambers  in  Chicago,  he  was  pre- 
paring to  leave  for  rehearsal.  The  hale  old 
gentleman  actively  paced  the  floor,  while  I  con- 
versed with  him. 

"  Mr.  Thomas,"  I  said,  "  those  familiar  with 
the  events  of  your  life  consider  them  a  lesson 
of  encouragement  for  earnest  and  high-minded 
artists." 

"  That  is  kind,"  he  answered. 

"  I  should  like,  if  you  will,  to  have  you 
speak  of  your  work  in  building  up  your  great 
orchestra  in  this  country." 

"  That  is  too  long  a  story.  I  would  have  to 
begin  with  my  birth." 

"  Where  were  you  born?  "  I  asked. 

3'4 


Theodore  Thomas 

"  In  the  kingdom  of  Hanover,  in  1835.  My 
father  was  a  violinist,  and  from  him  I  inherited 
my  taste,  I  suppose.  He  taught  me  music. 
When  I  was  only  six  years  old,  I  played  the 
violin  at  public  concerts. 

"  I  WAS  NOT  AN  INFANT  PRODIGY  " 

"  I  was  not  an  infant  prodigy,  however.  My 
father  had  too  much  wisdom  to  injure  my 
chances  in  that  way.  He  made  me  keep  to  my 
studies  in  a  manner  that  did  me  good.  I  came 
to  America  in  1845." 

"  Was  the  American  music  field  crowded 
then?" 

"  On  the  contrary,  there  wasn't  any  field  to 
speak  of.  It  had  to  be  made.  Music  was  the 
pastime  of  a  few.  The  well-educated  and  fash- 
ionable classes  possessed  or  claimed  a  knowl- 
edge of  it.  There  was  scarcely  any  music  for 
the  common  people." 

"  How  did  you  get  your  start  in  the  New 
York  world  of  music?  "  I  asked. 

"  With  four  associates,  William  Mason,  Jo- 
seph Mosenthal,  George  Matzka  and  Frederick 
Berguer,  I  began  a  series  of  concerts  of  Cham- 
ber Music,  and  for  many  years  we  conducted 
this  modest  artistic  enterprise.  There  was 


How  They  Succeeded 

much  musical  enthusiasm  on  our  part,  but  very 
little  reward,  except  the  pleasure  we  drew  from 
our  own  playing. 

"  These  Mason  and  Thomas  soirees  are  still 
remembered  by  old-time  music  lovers  of  New 
York,  not  only  for  their  excellence,  but  for  the 
peculiar  character  of  the  audiences.  They 
were  quiet  little  monthly  reunions,  to  which 
most  of  the  guests  came  with  complimentary 
tickets.  The  critics  hardly  ventured  to  intrude 
upon  the  exercises,  and  the  newspapers  gave 
them  little  notice." 

BEGINNING   OF   THE   ORCHESTRA 

"  How  did  you  come  to  found  your  great  or- 
chestra?" 

"  It  was  more  of  a  growth  than  a  full- 
fledged  thought  to  begin  with.  It  was  in  1861 
that  I  severed  my  connection  with  the  opera 
and  began  to  establish  a  genuine  orchestra.  I 
began  with  occasional  performances,  popular 
matinee  concerts,  and  so  on,  and,  in  a  few 
years,  was  able  to  give  a  series  of  Symphony 
Soirees  at  the  old  Irving  Hall  in  New  York." 

To  the  average  person  this  work  of  Mr. 
Thomas  may  seem  to  be  neither  difficult  nor 
great.  Yet  while  anyone  could  have  collected 

316 


Theodore  Thomas 

a  band  in  a  week,  to  make  such  an  orchestra  as 
Mr.  Thomas  meant  to  have,  required  time  and 
patience.  It  was  when  the  Philharmonic  So- 
ciety, after  living  through  a  great  many  hard- 
ships, was  on  the  full  tide  of  popular  fa- 
vor. Its  concerts  and  rehearsals  filled  the 
Academy  of  Music  with  the  flower  of  New 
York  society.  Powerful  social  influences  had 
been  won  to  its  support,  and  Carl  Bergmann 
had  raised  its  noble  orchestra  of  one  hundred 
performers  to  a  point  of  proficiency  then  quite 
unexampled  in  this  country,  and  in  some  par- 
ticulars still  unsurpassed.  Ladies  and  gentle- 
men who  moved  in  the  best  circles  hardly  no- 
ticed the  parallel  entertainment  offered  in  such 
a  modest  way,  by  Mr.  Thomas,  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  street.  The  patrons  of  his  Cham- 
ber Concerts,  of  course,  went  in  to  see  what  the 
new  orchestra  was  like ;  professional  musicians 
hurried  to  the  hall  with  their  free  passes;  and 
there  were  a  few  curious  listeners  besides  who 
found  in  the  programmes  a  class  of  composi- 
tions somewhat  different  from  those  which  Mr. 
Bergmann  chiefly  favored,  and,  in  particular,  a 
freshness  and  novelty  in  the  selections,  with  an 
inclination,  not  yet  very  strongly  marked,  to- 
ward the  modern  German  school.  Among 

3'7 


How  They  Succeeded 

such  of  the  dilettanti  as  condescended  to  think 
of  Mr.  Thomas  at  all,  there  was  a  vague  im- 
pression that  his  concerts  were  started  in  op- 
position to  the  Philharmonic  Society,  but  that 
they  were  not  so  good  and  much  less  genteel. 

It  is  true  that  Mr.  Thomas  was  surpassed, 
at  that  time,  by  Mr.  Bergmann's  larger  and 
older  orchestra,  and  that  he  had  much  less  than 
an  equal  share  of  public  favor,  but  there  was  no 
intentional  rivalry.  The  two  men  had  entirely 
different  ideas  and  worked  them  out  in  per- 
fectly original  ways.  It  was  only  the  artist's 
dismal  period  of  struggle  and  neglect,  which 
every  beginner  must  pass  through.  He  had  to 
meet  cold  and  meager  audiences,  and  the  false 
judgment  of  both  the  critics  and  the  people. 
Yet  he  was  a  singular  compound  of  good 
American  energy  and  German  obstinacy,  and 
he  never  lost  courage. 

"  Was  it  a  long  struggle?  "  I  asked. 

"  Not  very  long.  Matters  soon  began  to 
mend.  The  orchestra  improved,  the  dreadful 
gaps  in  the  audience  soon  filled  up,  and  at  the 
end  of  the  year  the  Symphony  Soirees,  if  they 
made  no  excitement  in  musical  circles,  had  at 
least  achieved  a  high  reputation." 

"  What  was  your  aim,  at  that  time  ?  " 


Theodore  Thomas 

"  When  I  began,  I  was  convinced  that  there 
is  no  music  too  high  for  the  popular  apprecia- 
tion,— that  no  scientific  education  is  required 
for  the  enjoyment  of  Beethoven.  I  believed 
that  it  is  only  necessary  that  a  public  whose 
taste  has  been  vitiated  by  over-indulgence  in 
trifles,  should  have  time  and  opportunity  to  ac- 
custom itself  to  better  things.  The  American 
people  at  large  then  (1864)  knew  little  or 
nothing  of  the  great  composers  for  the  orches- 
tra. Three  or  four  more  or  less  complete  or- 
ganizations had  visited  the  principal  cities  of 
the  United  States  in  former  years,  but  they 
made  little  permanent  impression.  Juillien  had 
brought  over,  for  his  monster  concerts,  only  five 
or  six  solo  players,  and  the  band  was  filled  up 
with  such  material  as  he  found  here.  The  cele- 
brated Germania  Band  of  New  York,  which 
had  first  brought  Mr.  Bergmann  (famous  then 
as  the  head  of  the  New  York  Philharmonic  So- 
ciety) into  notice,  did  some  admirable  work 
just  previous  to  my  start  in  New  York,  but  it 
disbanded  after  six  years  of  vicissitude,  and, 
besides,  it  was  not  a  complete  orchestra." 

"  You  mean,"  I  said,  as  Mr.  Thomas  paused 
meditatively,  "  that  you  came  at  a  time  when 
there  was  a  decided  opportunity?" 

3*9 


How  They  Succeeded 

MUSIC  HAD  NO  HOLD  ON  THE  MASSES 

"  Yes.  There  had  been,  and  were  then,  good 
organizations,  such  as  the  New  York  Philhar- 
monic Society  and  the  Harvard  Musical  Asso- 
ciation in  Boston,  and  a  few  similar  organiza- 
tions in  various  parts  of  the  country.  I  mean 
no  disparagement  to  their  honorable  labors, 
but,  in  simple  truth,  none  of  them  had  great  in- 
fluence on  the  masses.  They  were  pioneers  of 
culture.  They  prepared  the  way  for  the  modern 
permanent  orchestra." 

"  They  were  not  important  ?  " 

"  No,  no;  that  cannot  be  said.  It  would  be 
the  grossest  ingratitude  to  forget  what  they 
did  and  have  done  and  are  still  dping,  or  de- 
tract in  the  smallest  degree  from  their  well- 
earned  fame.  But  from  the  very  nature  of  their 
organization,  it  was  inevitable  that  they 
should  stand  a  little  apart  from  the  common 
crowd.  To  the  general  public,  their  perform- 
ances were  more  like  mysterious  rites,  cele- 
brated behind  closed  doors,  in  the  presence  of 
a  select  and  unchanging  company  of  believers. 
Year  after  year,  the  same  twenty-five  hundred 
people  filled  the  New  York  Academy  of  Music 

320 


Theodore  Thomas 

at  the  Philharmonic  concerts,  applauding  the 
same  class  of  master  works,  and  growing  more 
and  more  familiar  with  the  same  standards  of 
the  strictly  classical  school.  This  was  no  cause 
for  complaint;  on  the  contrary,  it  was  most 
fortunate  that  the  reverence  for  the  older  forms 
of  art  and  canons  of  taste  were  thus  kept  alive ; 
and  we  know  that,  little  by  little,  the  culture 
which  the  Philharmonic  Society  diffuses, 
through  the  circle  of  its  regular  subscribers, 
spreads  beyond  that  small  company,  and  raises 
the  aesthetic  tone  of  metropolitan  life.  But  I 
believed  then,  as  I  believe  now,  that  it  would 
require  generations  for  this  little  leaven  to 
leaven  the  whole  mass,  and  so  I  undertook  to 
do  my  part  in  improving  matters  by  forming 
an  orchestra." 

"  You  wanted  to  get  nearer  the  people  with 
good  music  ?  " 

"  No,  I  wanted  the  people  to  get  nearer  to 
music.  I  was  satisfied  that  the  right  course  is 
to  begin  at  the  bottom  instead  of  the  top,  and 
make  the  cultivation  of  symphonic  music  a 
popular  movement." 

"  Was  the  idea  of  a  popular  permanent  or- 
chestra new  at  that  time?  " 

321 


How  They  Succeeded 

"  Yes." 

"Why  was  it  necessary  to  effect  a  perma- 
nent orchestra?" 

"  Why  ?  Because  the  first  step  in  making 
music  popular  was  to  raise  the  standard  of  or- 
chestral performances  and  increase  their  fre- 
quency. Our  country  had  never  possessed  a 
genuine  orchestra,  for  a  band  of  players  gath- 
ered together  at  rare  intervals  for  a  special 
purpose  does  not  deserve  the  name.  The  mu- 
sician who  marches  at  the  head  of  a  target 
company  all  the  morning  and  plays  for  a  danc- 
ing party  at  night,  is  out  of  tune  with  the  great 
masters.  To  express  the  deep  emotions  of 
Beethoven,  the  romanticism  of  Schumann,  or 
the  poetry  of  Liszt,  he  ought  to  live  in  an  at- 
mosphere of  art,  and  keep  not  only  his  hand  in 
practice,  but  his  mind  properly  attempered.  An 
orchestra,  therefore,  ought  to  be  a  permanent 
body,  whose  members  play  together  every  day, 
under  the  same  conductor,  and  devote  them- 
selves exclusively  to  genuine  music.  Nobody 
had  yet  attempted  to  found  an  orchestra  of  this 
kind  in  America  when  I  began ;  but  I  believed 
it  could  be  done." 


322 


Theodore  Thomas 

WORKING  OUT  HIS  IDEA 

"  Did  you  have  an  idea  of  a  permanent  build- 
ing for  your  orchestra  ?  " 

"  Yes.  I  wanted  something  more  than  an 
ordinary  concert-room.  The  idea  needed  it.  It 
was  to  be  a  place  suitable  for  use  at  all  seasons 
of  the  year.  There  was  to  be  communication  in 
summer  with  an  open  garden,  and  in  winter 
it  was  to  be  a  perfect  auditorium." 

Mr.  Thomas's  idea  went  even  further.  It 
must  be  bright,  comfortable,  roomy,  well  ven- 
tilated— for  a  close  and  drowsy  atmosphere  is 
fatal  to  symphonic  music, — it  must  offer  to  the 
multitude  every  attraction  not  inconsistent  with 
musical  enjoyment.  The  stage  must  be  adapted 
for  a  variety  of  performances,  for  popular  sum- 
mer entertainment  as  well  as  the  most  serious 
of  classical  concerts.  There,  with  an  uninter- 
rupted course  of  entertainments,  night  after 
night,  the  whole  year  round,  the  noblest  work 
of  all  the  great  masters  might  be  worthily 
presented. 

The  scheme  was  never  wholly  worked  out  in 
New  York,  great  as  Mr.  Thomas's  fame  be- 
came, but  it  was  partially  realized  in  the  old 
Exposition  building  in  Chicago,  where  he  af- 

323 


How  They  Succeeded 

terwards  gave  his  summer  concerts,  and  it  is 
still  nearer  reality  in  the  present  permanent 
Chicago  orchestra,  which  has  the  great  Audi- 
torium for  its  home  and  a  $50,000  annual 
guarantee. 

"  What  were  your  first  steps  in  this  direc- 
tion?" I  asked. 

"  I  began  with  a  series  of  al  fresco  entertain- 
ments in  the  old  Terrace  Garden,  in  June,  1866. 
They  were  well  patronized;  and  repeated  in 
1867.  Then,  in  1868,  we  removed  to  better 
quarters  in  Central  Park  Garden,  and  things 
prospered,  so  that,  in  1869,  I  began  those  an- 
nual tours,  which  are  now  so  common." 

The  first  itinerary  of  this  kind  was  not  very 
profitable,  but  the  young  conductor  fought 
through  it.  Each  new  season  improved  some- 
what, but  there  were  troubles  and  losses.  More 
than  once,  the  travelers  trod  close  upon  the 
heels  of  calamity.  The  cost  of  moving  from 
place  to  place  was  so  great  that  the  most  care- 
ful management  was  necessary  to  cover  ex- 
penses. They  could  not  afford  to  be  idle,  even 
for  a  night,  and  the  towns  capable  of  furnish- 
ing good  audiences  generally  wanted  fun. 
Hence  they  must  travel  all  day,  and  Thomas 
took  care  that  the  road  should  be  smoothed 

324 


Theodore  Thomas 

with  all  obtainable  comforts.  Special  cars  on 
the  railways,  special  attendants  to  look  after 
the  luggage,  and  lodgings  at  the  best  hotels 
contributed  to  make  the  tour  tolerably  pleasant 
and  easy,  so  that  the  men  came  to  their  evening 
work  fresh  and  smiling.  They  were  tied  up  by 
freshets  and  delayed  by  wrecks ;  but  their  fame 
grew,  and  the  audiences  became  greater. 
Thomas's  fame  as  a  conductor  who  could  guar- 
antee constant  employment  permitted  him  to 
take  his  choice  of  the  best  players  in  the  coun- 
try, and  he  brought  over  a  number  of  European 
celebrities  as  the  public  taste  improved. 

Theodore  Thomas  did  another  wise  thing. 
He  treated  New  York  like  a  provincial  city, 
giving  it  a  week  of  music  once  in  a  while  as  he 
passed  through  it  on  his  travels.  This  excited 
the  popular  interest,  and  when  he  came  to  stay, 
the  next  season,  a  brilliantly  successful  series  of 
concerts  was  the  result.  At  the  close,  a  number 
of  his  admirers  united  in  presenting  him  a  rich 
silver  casket,  holding  a  purse  of  thirty-five  hun- 
dred dollars,  as  a  testimonial  of  gratitude  for 
his  services.  The  Brooklyn  Philharmonic  So- 
ciety placed  itself  under  his  direction.  Chicago 
gave  him  a  fine  invitation  to  attend  benefit  en- 
tertainments to  himself;  and,  when  he  came, 

325 


How  They  Succeeded 

decked  the  hall  with  abundant  natural  flowers, 
as  if  for  the  reception  of  a  hero.  He  was  suc- 
cessful financially  and  every  other  way,  and 
from  that  time  on  he  merely  added  to  his 
laurels. 

THE  CHIEF  ELEMENT  OF  HIS  SUCCESS 

"  What,"  I  asked  of  him,  "  do  you  consider 
the  chief  element  of  your  success  ?  " 

"That  is  difficult  to  say.  Perseverance, 
hard  work,  stern  discipline, — each  had  its 
part." 

"  You  have  never  attempted  to  become 
rich?" 

"Poh!" 

"  Do  you  still  believe  in  the  best  music  for 
the  mass  of  the  people?" 

"  I  do.  My  success  has  been  with  them.  It 
was  so  in  New  York;  it  is  so  here  in  Chicago." 

"  Do  you  still  work  as  hard  as  ever?  "  I  in- 
quired. 

"  Nearly  so.  The  training  of  a  large  orches- 
tra never  ends.  The  work  must  be  gone  over 
and  over.  There  is  always  something  new." 

"  And  your  life's  pleasure  lies  in  this  ?  " 

"  Wholly  so.  To  render  perfect  music  per- 
fectly— that  is  enough." 

326 


XX 

John  Burroughs  at  Home:  The 
Hut  on  the  Hill  Top 

WHEN  I  visited  the  hill-top  retreat  of 
John  Burroughs,  the  distinguished 
writer  upon  nature,  at  West  Park, 
New  York,  it  was  with  the  feeling  that  all  suc- 
cess is  not  material ;  that  mere  dollars  are  noth- 
ing, and  that  the  influential  man  is  the  success- 
ful man,  whether  he  be  rich  or  poor.  John  Bur- 
roughs is  unquestionably  both  influential  and 
poor.  Relatively  poor :  being  an  owner  of  some 
real  estate,  and  having  a  modest  income  from 
copyrights.  He  is  content:  knowing  when  he 
has  enough.  On  the  wooden  porch  of  his  lit- 
tle bark-covered  cabin  I  waited,  one  June  af- 
ternoon, until  he  should  come  back  from  the 
woods  and  fields,  where  he  had  gone  for  a  ram- 
ble. It  was  so  still  that  the  sound  of  my  rocker 
moving  to  and  fro  on  the  rough  boards  of  the 
little  porch  seemed  to  shock  the  perfect  quiet. 


How  They  Succeeded 

From  afar  off  came  the  plaintive  cry  of  a  wood- 
dove,  and  then  all  was  still  again.  Presently 
the  interpreter  of  out-door  life  appeared  in  the 
distance,  and,  seeing  a  stranger  at  his  door, 
hurried  homeward.  He  was  without  coat  or 
vest  and  looked  cool  in  his  white  outing  shirt 
and  large  straw  hat.  After  some  formalities 
of  introduction  we  reached  the  subject  which  I 
had  called  to  discuss,  and  he  said : — 

"  It  is  not  customary  to  interview  men  of 
my  vocation  concerning  success." 

"  Any  one  who  has  made  a  lasting  impres- 
sion on  the  minds  of  his  contemporaries,"  I  be- 
gan, "  and  influenced  men  and  women — " 

"Do  you  refer  to  me?"  he  interrupted, 
naively. 

I  nodded  and  he  laughed.  "  I  have  not  en- 
dowed a  university  nor  made  a  fortune,  nor 
conquered  an  enemy  in  battle,"  he  said. 

"  And  those  who  have  done  such  things  have 
not  written  'Locusts  and  Wild  Honey'  and 
'Wake  Robin/" 

"  I  recognize,"  he  said  quietly,  "  that  suc- 
cess is  not  always  where  people  think  it  is. 
There  are  many  ways  of  being  successful ;  and 
I  do  not  approve  of  the  mistake  which  causes 

328 


John  Burroughs 

many  to  consider  that  a  great  fortune  acquired 
means  a  great  success  achieved.  On  the  con- 
trary, our  greatest  men  need  very  little  money 
to  accomplish  the  greatest  work." 

"  I  thought  that  anyone  leading  a  life  so 
wholly  at  variance  with  the  ordinary  ideas  and 
customs  would  see  success  in  life  from  a  dif- 
ferent point  of  view,"  I  observed.  "  Money 
is  really  no  object  with  you  ?  " 

"  The  subject  of  wealth  never  disturbs  me." 

"  You  lead  a  very  simple  life  here." 

"  Such  as  you  see." 

The  sight  would  impress  anyone.  So  far  is 
this  disciple  of  nature  away  from  the  ordinary 
mode  of  the  world,  that  his  little  cabin,  set  in 
the  cup-shaped  top  of  a  hill,  is  practically  bare  of 
luxuries  and  the  so  called  comforts  of  life.  His 
surroundings  are  of  the  rudest,  the  very  rocks 
and  bushes  encroaching  upon  his  back  door. 
All  about,  the  crest  of  the  hill  encircles  him, 
and  shuts  out  the  world.  Only  the  birds  of  the 
air  venture  to  invade  his  retreat  from  the  vari- 
ous sides  of  the  mountain;  and  there  is  only 
one  approach  by  a  straggling,  narrow  path.  In 
his  house  are  no  decorations  but  such  as  can  be 
hung  upon  the  exposed  wood.  The  fireplace  is 

329 


How  They  Succeeded 

of  brick,  and  quite  wide;  the  floor,  rough 
boards  scrubbed  white;  the  ceiling,  a  rough  ar- 
ray of  exposed  rafters ;  and  his  bed  rudely  con- 
structed. Very  few  and  very  simple  chairs,  a 
plain  table  and  some  shelves  for  books  make  the 
wealth  of  the  retreat  and  serve  for  his  ordinary 
use.1 

"  Many  people,"  I  said,  "  think  that  your 
method  of  living  is  an  ideal  example  of  the  way 
people  ought  to  live." 

"  There  is  nothing  remarkable  in  that.  A 
great  many  people  are  very  weary  of  the  way 
they  think  themselves  compelled  to  live.  They 
are  mistaken  in  believing  that  the  disagreeable 
things  they  find  themselves  doing,  are  the 
things  they  ought  to  do.  A  great  many  take 
their  ideas  of  a  proper  aim  in  life  from  what 
other  people  say  and  do.  Consequently,  they 
are  unhappy,  and  an  independent  existence  such 
as  mine  strikes  them  as  ideal.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  it  is  very  natural." 

"  Would  you  say  that  to  work  so  as  to  be 

1  This  hut  on  the  hill-top  is  situated  in  an  old  lake  bed, 
some  three  hundred  yards  wide,  half  filled  with  peat  and 
decomposed  matter,  swampy  and  overgrown.  This  area 
was  devoted  by  Mr.  Burroughs  to  the  raising  of  celery 
for  the  market,  when  he  set  out  to  earn  a  living  upon 
the  land. 

33° 


John  Burroughs 

able  to  live  like  this  should  be  the  aim  of  a 
young  man  ?  " 

"  By  no  means.  On  the  contrary,  his  aim 
should  be  to  live  in  such  a  way  as  will  give  his 
mind  the  greatest  freedom  and  peace.  This 
can  be  very  often  obtained  by  wanting  less  of 
material  things  and  more  of  intellectual  ones. 
A  man  who  achieved  such  an  aim  would  be  as 
well  off  as  the  most  distinguished  man  in  any 
field.  Money-getting  is  half  a  mania,  and  some 
other  '  getting '  propensities  are  manias  also. 
The  man  who  gets  content  comes  nearest  to  be- 
ing reasonable." 

"  I  should  like,"  I  said,  "  to  illustrate  your 
point  of  view  from  the  details  of  your  own 
life." 

"  Students  of  nature  do  not,  as  a  rule,  have 
eventful  lives.  I  was  born  at  Roxbury,  New 
York,  in  1837.  That  was  a  time  when  condi- 
tions were  rather  primitive.  My  father  was  a 
farmer,  and  I  was  raised  among  the  woods  and 
fields.  I  came  from  an  uncultivated,  unread- 
ing  class  of  society,  and  grew  up  among  sur- 
roundings the  least  calculated  to  awaken  the 
literary  faculty.  I  have  no  doubt  that  daily 
contact  with  the  woods  and  fields  awakened  my 
interest  in  the  wonders  of  nature,  and  gave 

331 


How  They  Succeeded 

me  a  bent  toward  investigation  in  that  direc- 
tion." 1 

"Did  you  begin  early  to  make  notes  and 
write  upon  nature?"  I  questioned. 

"  Not  before  I  was  sixteen  or  seventeen. 
Earlier  than  that,  the  art  of  composition  had 
anything  but  charms  for  me.  I  remember  that 
while  at  school,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  I  was 
required,  like  other  students,  to  write  '  compo- 
sitions' at  stated  times,  but  I  usually  evaded  the 
duty  one  way  or  another.  On  one  occasion,  I 
copied  something  from  a  comic  almanac,  and 
unblushingly  handed  it  in  as  my  own.  But  the 
teacher  detected  the  fraud,  and  ordered  me  to 
produce  a  twelve-line  composition  before  I  left 
school.  I  remember  I  racked  my  brain  in  vain, 


1 "  Blessed  is  he  whose  youth  was  passed  upon  a  farm," 
writes  Mr.  Burroughs ;  "  and'  if  it  was  a  dairy  farm  his 
memories  will  be  all  the  more  fragrant.  The  driving  of 
the  cows  to  and  from  the  pasture  every  day  and  every 
season  for  years, — how  much  of  summer  and  of  nature 
he  got  into  him  on  these  journeys!  What  rambles  and 
excursions  did  this  errand  furnish  the  excuse  for !  The 
birds  and  birds'  nests,  the  berries,  the  squirrels,  the 
woodchucks,  the  beech  woods  into  which  the  cows  loved 
so  to  wander  and  browse,  the  fragrant  wintergreens. 
and  a  hundred  nameless  adventures,  all  strung  upon  that 
brief  journey  of  half  a  mile  to  and  from  the  remote  pas- 
ture." 

332 


John  Burroughs 

and  the  short  winter  day  was  almost  closing 
when  Jay  Gould,  who  sat  in  the  seat  behind  me, 
wrote  twelve  lines  of  doggerel  on  his  slate  and 
passed  it  slyly  over  to  me.  I  had  so  little  taste 
for  writing  that  I  coolly  copied  that,  and 
handed  it  in  as  my  own." 

"You  were  friendly  with  Gould  then?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  '  chummy/  they  call  it  now.  His 
father's  farm  was  only  a  little  way  from  ours, 
and  we  were  fast  friends,  going  home  together 
every  night." 

"  His  view  of  life  must  have  been  consider- 
ably different  from  yours." 

"  It  was.  I  always  looked  upon  success  as 
being  a  matter  of  mind,  not  money;  but  Jay 
wanted  the  material  appearances.  I  remember 
that  once  we  had  a  wrestling  match,  and  as  we 
were  about  even  in  strength,  we  agreed  to  abide 
by  certain  rules, — taking  what  we  called 
'  holts  '  in  the  beginning  and  not  breaking  them 
until  one  or  the  other  was  thrown.  I  kept  to 
this  in  the  struggle,  but  when  Jay  realized  that 
he  was  in  danger  of  losing  the  contest,  he  broke 
the  '  holt '  and  threw  me.  When  I  remarked 
that  he  had  broken  his  agreement,  he  only 
laughed  and  said,  '  I  threw  you,  didn't  I  ?  '  And 
to  every  objection  I  made,  he  made  the  same 

333 


How  They  Succeeded 

answer.  The  fact  of  having  won  was  pleasing 
to  him.  It  satisfied  him,  although  it  wouldn't 
have  contented  me." 

"  Did  you  ever  talk  over  success  in  life  with 
him?" 

:'  Yes,  quite  often.  He  was  bent  on  making 
money,  and  did  considerable  trading  among 
us  schoolboys, — sold  me  some  of  his  books.  I 
felt  then  that  my  view  of  life  was  more  satis- 
factory to  me  than  his  would  have  been.  I 
wanted  to  obtain  a  competence,  and  then  devote 
myself  to  high  thinking  instead  of  to  money- 
making.1 

"  How  did  you  plan  to  attain  this  end?  " 

"  By  study.  I  began  in  my  sixteenth  or 
seventeenth  year  to  try  to  express  myself  on 
paper,  and  when,  after  I  had  left  the  country 
school,  I  attended  the  seminary  at  Ashland  and 
at  Cooperstown,  I  often  received  the  highest 

1  An  old  schoolmate  in  the  little  red  schoolhouse  has 
said,  that  "  John  and  Jay  were  not  like  the  other  boys. 
They  learned  their  lessons  easier;  and  at  recess  they 
looked  on  the  games,  but  did  not  join  in  them.  John 
always  knew  where  to  find  the  largest  trout;  he  could 
show  you  birds'  nests,  and  name  all  the  flowers.  He 
was  fond  of  reading,  and  would  walk  five  miles  to  bor- 
row a  book.  Roxbury  is  proud  of  John  Burroughs. 
We  celebrated  '  Burroughs  Day '  instead  of  Arbor  Day 
here  last  spring,  in  the  high-school,  in  honor  of  him." 

334 


John  Burroughs 

marks  in  composition,  though  only  standing 
about  the  average  in  general  scholarship.  My 
taste  ran  to  essays,  and  I  picked  up  the  great 
works  in  that  field  at  a  bookstore,  from  time  to 
time,  and  filled  my  mind  with  the  essay  idea. 
I  bought  the  whole  of  Dr.  Johnson's  works  at 
a  second-hand  bookstore  in  New  York,  because, 
on  looking  into  them  I  found  his  essays  ap- 
peared to  be  solid  literature,  which  I  thought 
was  just  the  thing.  Almost  my  first  literary 
attempts  were  moral  reflections,  somewhat  in 
the  Johnsonian  style." 

"  You  were  supporting  yourself  during  these 
years?" 

"  I  taught  six  months  and  '  boarded  round ' 
before  I  went  to  the  seminary.  That  put  fifty 
dollars  into  my  pocket,  and  the  fifty  paid  my 
way  at  the  seminary.1  Working  on  the  farm, 

1  It  was  when  he  was  attending  the  academy,  that 
young  Burroughs  first  saw  that  wonderful  being — a  liv- 
ing author: — 

"  I  distinctly  remember  with  what  emotion  I  gazed 
upon  him,"  he  said,  "  and  followed  him  about  in  the 
twilight,  keeping  on  the  other  side  of  the  street.  He 
was  of  little  account, — a  man  who  had  failed  as  a  lawyer, 
and  then  had  written  a  history  of  Poland,  which  I  have 
never  heard  of  since  that  time;  but  to  me  he  was  the 
embodiment  of  the  august  spirit  of  authorship,  and  I 
looked  upon  him  with  more  reverence  and  enthusiasm 

335 


How  They  Succeeded 

studying  and  teaching  filled  up  the  years  until 
1863,  when  I  went  to  Washington  and  found 
employment  in  the  Treasury  Department." 

"You  were  connected  with  the  Treasury 
then?"1 

"  Oh,  yes ;  for  nearly  nine  years.  I  left  the 
department  in  1872,  to  become  receiver  of  a 
bank,  and  subsequently  for  several  years  I  per- 
formed the  work  of  a  bank  examiner.  I  consid- 
ered it  only  as  an  opportunity  to  earn  and  save 
up  a  little  money  on  which  I  could  retire.  I 
managed  to  do  that,  and  came  back  to  this  re- 
gion, where  I  bought  a  fruit  farm.  I  worked 


than  I  had  ever  before  looked  upon  any  man  with.  I 
cannot  divine  why  I  should  have  stood  in  such  worship- 
ful fear  and  awe  of  this  obscure  individual,  but  I  sup- 
pose it  was  the  instinctive  tribute  of  a  timid  and  imagina- 
tive youth  to  a  power  he  was  just  beginning  to  see, — or 
to  feel, — the  power  of  letters." 

*"My  first  book,  'Wake- Robin/  was  written  while  I 
was  a  government  clerk  in  Washington/'  says  Mr.  Bur- 
roughs. "  It  enabled  me  to  live  over  again  the  days  I 
had  passed  with  the  birds,  and  in  the  scenes  of  my 
youth.  I  wrote  the  book  while  sitting  at  a  desk  in  front 
of  an  iron  wall.  I  was  the  keeper  of  a  vault  in  which 
many  million  of  bank-notes  were  stored.  During  my 
long  periods  of  leisure,  I  took  refuge  in  my  pen.  How 
my  mind  reacted  from  the  iron  wall  in  front  of  me,  and 
sought  solace  in  memories  of  the  birds  and  of  summer 
fields  and  woods." 


336 


John  Burroughs 

that  into  paying  condition,  and  then  gave  all 
my  time  to  the  pursuit  of  the  studies  I  like." 

"  Had  you  abandoned  your  interest  in  na- 
ture during  your  Washington  life  ?  " 

"  No.  I  gave  as  much  time  to  the  study  of 
nature  and  literature  as  I  had  to  spare.  When 
I  was  twenty-three  I  wrote  an  essay  on  '  Ex- 
pression/ and  sent  it  to  the  '  Atlantic.'  It  was 
so  Emersonian  in  style,  owing  to  my  enthusi- 
asm for  Emerson  at  that  time,  that  the  editor 
thought  some  one  was  trying  to  palm  off  on 
him  an  early  essay  of  Emerson's  which  he  had 
not  seen.  He  found  that  Emerson  had  not 
published  any  such  paper,  however,  and  printed 
it,  though  it  had  not  much  merit.  I  wrote  off 
and  on  for  the  magazines." 

The  editor  in  question  was  James  Russell 
Lowell,  who,  instead  of  considering  it  without 
merit,  often  expressed  afterwards  the  delight 
with  which  he  read  this  contribution  from  an 
unknown  hand,  and  the  swift  impression  of  the 
author's  future  distinction  which  came  to  him 
with  that  reading. 

"  Your  successful  work,  then,  has  been  in 
what  direction  ?  "  I  said. 

"  In  studying  nature.  It  has  all  come  by  liv- 
ing close  to  the  plants  and  animals  of  the  woods 

337 


How  They  Succeeded 

and  fields,  and  coming  to  understand  them. 
There  I  have  been  successful.  Men  who,  like 
myself,  are  deficient  in  self-assertion,  or  whose 
personalities  are  flexible  and  yielding,  make  a 
poor  show  in  business,  but  in  certain  other 
fields  these  defects  become  advantages.  Cer- 
tainly it  is  so  in  my  case.  I  can  succeed  with 
bird  or  beast,  for  I  have  cultivated  my  ability 
in  that  direction.  I  can  look  in  the  eye  of  an 
ugly  dog  or  cow  and  win,  but  with  an  ugly  man 
I  have  less  success. 

"  I  consider  the  desire  which  most  indi- 
viduals have  for  the  luxuries  which  money  can 
buy,  an  error  of  mind"  he  added.  "  Those 
things  do  not  mean  anything  except  a  lack  of 
higher  tastes.  Such  wants  are  not  necessary 
wants,  nor  honorable  wants.  If  you  cannot  get 
wealth  with  a  noble  purpose,  it  is  better  to 
abandon  it  and  get  something  else.  Peace  of 
mind  is  one  of  the  best  things  to  seek,  and  finer 
tastes  and  feelings.  The  man  who  gets  these, 
and  maintains  himself  comfortably,  is  much 
more  admirable  and  successful  than  the  man 
who  gets  money  and  neglects  these.  The  realm 
of  power  has  no  fascination  for  me.  I  would 
rather  have  my  seclusion  and  peace  of  mind. 
This  log  hut,  with  its  bare  floors,  is  sufficient. 

338 


John  Burroughs 

I  am  set  down  among  the  beauties  of  nature, 
and  in  no  danger  of  losing  the  riches  that  are 
scattered  all  about.  No  one  will  take  my  walks 
or  my  brook  away  from  me.  The  flowers,  birds 
and  animals  are  plentifully  provided.  I  have 
enough  to  eat  and  wear,  and  time  to  see  how 
beautiful  the  world  is,  and  to  enjoy  it.  The  en- 
tire world  is  after  your  money,  or  the  things 
you  have  bought  with  your  money.  It  is  try- 
ing to  keep  them  that  makes  them  seem  so  pre- 
cious. I  live  to  broaden  and  enjoy  my  own  life, 
believing  that  in  so  doing  I  do  what  is  best  for 
everypne.  If  I  ran  after  birds  only  to  write 
about  them,  I  should  never  have  written  any- 
thing that  anyone  else  would  have  cared  to 
read.  I  must  write  from  sympathy  and  love, — 
that  is,  from  enjoyment, — or  not  at  all.  I  come 
gradually  to  have  a  feeling  that  I  want  to  write 
upon  a  given  theme.  Whenever  the  subject 
recurs  to  me,  it  awakens  a  warm,  personal  re- 
sponse. My  confidence  that  I  ought  to  write 
comes  from  the  feeling  or  attraction  which 
some  subjects  exercise  over  me.  The  work  is 
pleasure,  and  the  result  gives  pleasure." 

"And  your  work  as  a  naturalist  is  what?" 

"  Climbing  trees  to  study  birds,  lying  by  the 

waterside  to  watch  the  fishes,  sitting  still  in 

339 


How  They  Succeeded 

the  grass  for  hours  to  study  the  insects,  and 
tramping  here  and  there,  always  to  observe  and 
study  whatever  is  common  to  the  woods  and 
fields." 

"  Men  think  you  have  done  a  great  work,"  I 
said. 

"  I  have  done  a  pleasant  work,"  he  said, 
modestly. 

"  And  the  achievements  of  your  schoolmate 
Gould  do  not  appeal  to  you  as  having  anything 
in  them  worth  aiming  for  ?  "  I  questioned. 

"  Not  for  me.  I  think  my  life  is  better  for 
having  escaped  such  vast  and  difficult 
interests." 

The  gentle,  light-hearted  naturalist  and  re- 
cluse came  down  the  long  hillside  with  me,  "  to 
put  me  right  "  on  the  main  road.  I  watched  him 
as  he  retraced  his  steps  up  the  steep,  dark  path, 
lantern  in  hand.  His  sixty  years  sat  lightly  upon 
him,  and  as  he  ascended  I  heard  him  singing. 
Long  after  the  light  melody  had  died  away,  I 
saw  the  serene  little  light  bobbing  up  and  down 
in  his  hand,  disappearing  and  reappearing,  as 
the  lone  philosopher  repaired  to  his  hut  and  his 
couch  of  content. 


34° 


XXI 

Vreeland's  Romantic  Story: 
How  He  Came  to  Transport 
a  Million  Passengers  a  Day 

A  SHORT  time  ago,  New  York  learned 
with  interest  and  some  astonishment, 
that  the  head  of  its  greatest  transpor- 
tation system,  Herbert  H.  Vreeland,  had  re- 
ceived from  several  of  his  associates  as  indi- 
viduals, a  "  valentine  "  present  of  $100,000,  in 
recognition  of  his  superb  management  of  their 
properties.  Many  New  Yorkers  then  learned, 
for  the  first  time,  what  railroad  experts 
throughout  the  country  had  long  known,  that 
the  transportation  of  a  million  people  a  day  in 
New  York's  busy  streets,  without  serious  fric- 
tion or  public  annoyance,  is  not  a  matter  of 
chance,  but  is  the  result  of  perhaps  the  most 
perfect  traffic  organization  ever  created,  at  the 
head  of  which  is  a  man,  quiet,  forceful,  able, 

341 


How  They  Succeeded 

with  the  ability  of  a  great  general — a  'master 
and  at  the  same  time,  a  friend  of  men, — himself 
one  for  whom  in  the  judgment  of  his  associates 
almost  any  higher  railroad  career  is  possible. 

Thirty  years  ago  Mr.  Vreeland,  then  a  lad 
thirteen  years  old,  was,  to  use  his  own  humor- 
ous, reminiscent  phrase,  "  h'isting  ice  "  on  the 
Hudson  River,  one  of  a  gang  of  eighteen  or 
twenty  men  and  boys  filling  the  ice  carts  for 
retail  city  delivery.  A  picture  just  brought  to 
light,  shows  him  among  the  force  lined  up  to  be 
photographed,  as  a  tall,  loosely  built,  hatchet- 
faced  lad  in  working  garb,  with  a  fragment  of 
a  smile  on  his  face,  as  if  he  could  appreciate 
the  contrast  of  the  boy  of  that  day  with  the 
man  of  the  future. 

How  do  these  things  happen?  What  was 
the  divine  spark  in  this  boy's  brain  and  heart 
that  should  lift  him  out  of  the  crowd  of  the 
commonplace  to  the  position  of  responsibility 
and  influence  in  the  world  which  he  now  occu- 
pies? If  my  readers  could  have  been  present 
at  the  interview  kindly  granted  by  Mr.  Vree- 
land to  the  writer,  and  could  have  heard  him 
recalling  his  early  life  and  its  many  struggles 
and  disappointments  with  a  smile  that  was 
often  near  a  tear,  they  would  have  gone  away 

342 


Herbert  H.  Vreeland 

feeling  that  nothing  is  impossible  to  him  who 
dares,  and,  above  all  else,  who  works,  and  they 
would  have  derived  inspiration  far  greater  than 
can  possibly  be  given  in  these  written  words. 

"  I  first  entered  the  railroad  business  in 
1875,"  said  Mr.  Vreeland,  "  shoveling  gravel 
on  one  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad  Company's 
night  construction  trains.  Though  this  posi- 
tion was  humble  enough,  it  was  a  great  thing 
to  me  then  to  feel  myself  a  railroad  man,  with 
all  that  that  term  implied;  and  when,  after  a 
few  months'  trial,  I  was  given  the  job  of  in- 
specting ties  and  roadbed  at  a  dollar  a  day,  I 
felt  that  I  was  well  on  the  road  to  the  presi- 
dency. 

"  One  day  the  superintendent  asked  my  boss 
if  he  could  give  him  a  reliable  man  to  replace 
a  switchman  who  had  just  made  a  blunder  lead- 
ing to  a  collision,  and  had  been  discharged. 
The  reply  was,  '  Well,  I've  got  a  man  named 
Vreeland  here,  who  will  do  exactly  what  you 
tell  him  to.'  They  called  me  up,  and,  after  a 
few  short,  sharp  questions  from  the  train-mas- 
ter, I  went  down  to  the  dreary  and  desolate 
marsh  near  Bushwick,  Long  Island,  and  took 
charge  of  a  switch.  For  a  few  days  I  had  to 
camp  out  near  that  switch,  in  any  way  that 

343 


How  They  Succeeded 

might  happen,  but  finally  the  officers  made  up 
their  minds  that  they  could  afford  me  the  lux- 
ury of  a  two-by-four  flag-house  with  a  stove  in 
it,  and  I  settled  down  for  more  railroading. 

"  The  Bushwick  station  was  not  far  away, 
and  one  of  the  company's  division  headquarters 
was  there.  I  soon  made  the  acquaintance  of 
all  the  officials  around  that  station,  and  got  into 
their  good  graces  by  offering  to  help  them  out 
in  their  clerical  work  at  any  and  all  times  when 
I  was  off  duty.  It  was  a  godsend  to  them, 
and  exactly  what  I  wanted,  for  I  had  deter- 
mined to  get  into  the  inside  of  the  railroad 
business  from  bottom  to  top.  Many's  the  time 
1  have  worked  till  eleven  or  twelve  o'clock  at 
night  in  that  little  station,  figuring  out  train  re- 
ceipts and  expenses,  engine  cost  and  duty,  and 
freight  and  passenger  statistics  of  all  kinds; 
and,  as  a  result  of  this  work,  I  quickly  acquired 
a  grasp  of  railroad  details  in  all  stages,  which 
few  managers  possess,  for,  in  one  way  and  an- 
other, I  got  into  and  through  every  branch  of 
the  business. 

"  My  Bushwick  switch  was  a  temporary  one, 
put  in  for  construction  purposes  only,  and, 
after  some  months'  use,  was  discontinued,  and 
I  was  discharged.  This  did  not  suit  me  at  all, 

344 


Herbert  H.  Vreeland 

and  I  went  to  one  of  the  officials  of  the  road 
and  told  him  that  I  wanted  to  remain  with  the 
Long  Island  Railroad  Company  in  any  capac- 
ity whatsoever,  and  would  be  obliged  to  him  if 
he  would  give  me  a  job.  He  said,  at  first,  that 
he  hadn't  a  thing  for  me  to  do,  but  finally 
added,  as  if  he  was  ashamed  to  suggest  it,  that, 
if  I  had  a  mind  to  go  down  on  another  division 
and  sweep  out  and  dust  cars,  I  might  do  it.  I 
instantly  accepted,  and  thereby  learned  the  de- 
tails of  another  important  railroad  department. 

"  Pretty  soon  they  made  me  brakeman  on  an 
early  morning  train  to  Hempstead,  and  then  I 
found  that  I  was  worth  to  the  world,  after  two 
years  of  railroad  training,  just  forty  dollars  a 
month,  plus  a  perquisite  or  two  obtained  from 
running  a  card-table  department  in  the  smok- 
ing-cars. I  remembered  that  I  paid  eighteen 
dollars  of  my  munificent  salary  for  board  and 
lodging,  sent  twenty  dollars  home  for  the  sup- 
port of  my  mother  and  sister,  and  had  two  dol- 
lars a  month  and  the  aforesaid  perquisites  left 
for  '  luxuries/ 

"  It  was  about  this  time,  thus  early  in  my 
career,  that  I  first  came  to  be  known  as  '  Presi- 
dent Vreeland.'  An  old  codger  upon  the  rail- 
road, in  talking  to  me  one  day,  said,  in  a  ban- 

345 


How  They  Succeeded 

tering  way :  '  Well,  I  suppose  you  think  your 
fortune  is  made,  now  you  have  become  a  brake- 
man,  but  let  me  tell  you  what  will  happen. 
You  will  be  a  brakeman  about  four  or  five 
years,  and  then  they  will  make  you  a  conductor, 
at  about  one  hundred  dollars  a  month,  and 
there  you'll  stick  all  your  life,  if  you  don't  get 
discharged.'  I  responded,  rather  angrily,  '  Do 
you  suppose  I  am  going  to  be  satisfied  with  re- 
maining a  conductor?  I  mean  to  be  president 
of  a  railroad.'  '  Ho,  ho,  ho ! '  laughed  the 
man.  He  told  the  story  around,  and  many  a 
time  thereafter  the  boys  slyly  placed  the  word 
'  President '  before  my  name  on  official  instruc- 
tions and  packages  sent  to  me. 

"  A  conductor  on  one  of  the  regular  trains 
quarreled  one  morning  with  the  superintendent 
and  was  discharged.  I  was  sent  for  and  told 
to  take  out  that  train.  This  was  jumping  me 
over  the  heads  of  many  of  the  older  brakemen, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  all  the  brakemen  on  that 
train  quit.  Others  were  secured,  however,  and 
I  ran  the  train  regularly  for  a  good  many 
months. 

"  Then  came  an  accident  one  day,  for  which 
the  engineer  and  I  were  jointly  responsible. 
We  admitted  our  responsibility,  and  were  dis- 

346 


Herbert  H.  Vreeland 

charged.  I  went  again  to  the  superintendent, 
however,  and,  upon  a  strong  plea  to  be  retained 
in  the  service,  he  sent  me  back  to  the  ranks 
among  the  brakemen.  I  had  no  complaint  to 
make,  but  accepted  the  consequence  of  my 
mistake. 

"  Soon  after  this,  the  control  of  the  road 
passed  into  other  hands.  Many  were  dis- 
charged, and  I  was  daily  expecting  my  own 
*  blue  envelope/  One  day,  I  was  detailed  to 
act  as  brakeman  on  a  special  which  was  to  con- 
vey the  president  and  directors  of  the  road, 
with  invited  guests,  on  a  trip  over  the  lines. 
By  that  time  I  had  learned  the  Long  Island 
Railroad  in  all  its  branches  pretty  well;  and, 
in  the  course  of  the  trip,  was  called  upon  to 
answer  a  great  many  questions.  The  next  day 
I  received  word  that  the  superintendent  wanted 
to  see  me.  My  heart  sank  within  me,  for  sum- 
monses of  this  kind  were  ominous  in  those 
days,  but  I  duly  presented  myself  at  the  office 
and  was  asked,  '  Are  you  the  good-looking 
brakeman  who  was  on  the  special  yesterday 
who  shows  his  teeth  when  he  smiles  ?  '  I  mod- 
estly replied  that  I  was  certainly  on  the  special 
yesterday,  and  I  may  possibly  have  partly  con- 
firmed the  rest  of  the  identification  by  a  smile, 

347 


How  They  Succeeded 

for  the  superintendent,  without  further  ques- 
tioning, said :  *  The  president  wants  to  see  you, 
up  stairs.' 

"  I  went  up,  and  in  due  time  was  shown  into 
the  presence  of  the  great  man,  who  eyed  me 
closely  for  a  minute  or  two,  and  then  asked  me 
abruptly  what  I  was  doing.  I  told  him  I  was 
braking  Number  Seventeen.  He  said :  '  Take 
this  letter  to  your  superintendent.  It  contains 
a  request  that  he  relieve  you  from  duty,  and 
put  somebody  else  in  your  place.  After  he  has 
done  so,  come  back  here/ 

"All  this  I  did,  and,  on  my  return  to  the 
president,  he  said,  '  Take  this  letter  at  once  to 
Admiral  Peyron,  of  the  French  fleet  (then  ly- 
ing in  the  harbor  on  a  visit  of  courtesy  to  this 
country),  and  this  to  General  Hancock,  on 
Governor's  Island.  They  contain  invitations 
to  each  to  dine  with  me  to-morrow  night  at 
my  home  in  Garden  City  with  their  staffs.  Get 
their  answers,  and,  if  they  say  yes,  return  at 
once  to  New  York,  charter  a  steamer,  call  for 
them  to-morrow  afternoon,  land  them  at  Long 
Island  City,  arrange  for  a  special  train  from 
Long  Island  City  to  Garden  City,  take  them 
there,  r.nd  return  them  after  the  banquet.  I 
leave  everything  in  your  hands.  Good  day/ 

348 


Herbert  H.  Vreeland 

"  I  suppose  this  might  be  considered  a  rather 
large  job  for  a  common  brakeman,  but  I  man- 
aged to  get  through  with  it  without  disgracing 
myself,  and  apparently  to  the  satisfaction  of  all 
concerned.  For  some  time  thereafter,  I  was 
the  president's  special  emissary  on  similar  mat- 
ters connected  with  the  general  conduct  of  the 
business,  and  while  I  did  not,  perhaps,  learn  so 
very  much  about  railroading  proper,  I  was  put 
in  positions  where  I  learned  to  take  responsi- 
bility and  came  to  have  confidence  in  myself. 

"  The  control  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad 
again  changed  hands,  and  I  was  again  '  let  out/ 
this  time  for  good,  so  far  as  that  particular 
road  was  concerned, — except  that,  within  the 
last  two  or  three  years,  I  have  renewed  my  ac- 
quaintance with  it  through  being  commissioned 
by  a  banking  syndicate  in  New  York  City  to 
make  an  expert  examination  of  its  plant  and 
equipment  as  a  preliminary  to  reorganization. 

"  This  was  in  1881,  or  about  that  time,  and 
I  soon  secured  a  position  as  conductor  on  the 
New  York  and  Northern  Railroad,  a  little  line 
running  from  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-fifth 
Street,  New  York  City,  to  Yonkers.  Not  to 
go  into  tedious  detail  regarding  my  experience 
there,  I  may  say  in  brief  that  in  course  of  time 

349 


How  They  Succeeded 

I  practically  '  ran  the  road/  After  some  years, 
it  changed  hands  (a  thing  which  railways,  par- 
ticularly small  ones,  often  do,  and  always  to  the 
great  discomposure  of  the  employees),  and  the 
new  owners,  including  William  C.  Whitney, 
Daniel  S.  Lamont,  Captain  R.  Somers  Hayes 
and  others,  went  over  the  road  one  day  on  a 
special  train  to  visit  the  property.  As  I  have 
said,  I  was  then  practically  running  the  road, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  man  who  held  the 
position  of  general  manager  was  not  a  railroad 
man  and  relied  upon  me  to  handle  all  details, 
but  my  actual  position  was  only  that  of  train- 
master. I  accompanied  the  party,  and  know- 
ing the  road  thoroughly,  not  only  physically 
but  also  statistically,  was  able  to  answer  all  the 
questions  which  they  raised.  This  was  the 
first  time  I  had  met  Mr.  Whitney,  and  I  judge 
that  I  made  a  somewhat  favorable  impression 
upon  him,  for  not  long  after  I  was  created  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  road. 

"  A  few  months  later,  I  received  this  tele- 
gram : — 

•  H.  H.  VREELAND. 

'  Meet  me  at  Broadway  and  Seventh  Avenue  office  at 
two  o'clock  to-day.  WILLIAM  C.  WHITNEY.* 

"  I  had  to  take  a  special  engine  to  do  this, 

350 


Herbert  H.  Vreeland 

but  arrived  at  two  o'clock  at  the  office  of  the 
Houston  Street,  West  Street  and  Pavonia 
Ferry  Railroad  Company,  which  I  then  knew, 
in  an  indistinct  sort  of  way,  owned  a  small 
horse  railway  in  the  heart  of  New  York.  After 
finding  that  Mr.  Whitney  was  out  at  lunch,  I 
kicked  my  heels  for  a  few  minutes  outside  the 
gate,  and  then  inquired  of  a  man  who  was 
seated  inside  in  an  exceedingly  comfortable 
chair,  when  Mr.  Whitney  and  his  party  were 
expected,  saying,  also,  that  my  name  was  Vree- 
land, and  I  had  an  appointment  at  two.  He 
replied :  '  Oh,  are  you  Mr.  Vreeland  ?  Well, 
here  is  a  letter  for  you.  Mr.  Whitney  expected 
to  be  here  at  two  o'clock,  but  is  a  little  late/  I 
took  my  letter  and  sat  down  again  outside, 
thinking  that  it  might  possibly  contain  an  ap- 
pointment for  another  hour.  It  was,  however, 
an  appointment  of  quite  a  different  character. 
It  read  as  follows : — 

'  MR.  H.  H.  VREELAND. 

'  DEAR  SIR  : — At  a  meeting  of  the  stockholders  of  the 
Houston  Street,  West  Street  and  Pavonia  Ferry  Rail- 
road Company,  held  this  day,  you  were  unanimously 
elected  a  director  of  the  company. 

'  At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  directors,  you  were 
unanimously  elected  president  and  general  manager,  your 
duties  to  commence  immediately. 

'  Yours  truly,  C.  E.  WARREN,  Secretary.' 

351 


How  They  Succeeded 

"  By  the  time  I  had  recovered  from  my  sur- 
prise at  learning  that  I  was  no  longer  a  steam- 
railroad,  but  a  street-railroad  man,  Mr.  Whit- 
ney and  other  directors  came  in,  and,  after 
spending  about  five  minutes  in  introductions, 
they  took  up  their  hats  and  left,  saying,  simply, 
'  Well,  Vreeland,  you  are  president ;  now  run 
the  road/  I  then  set  out  to  learn  what  kind 
of  a  toy  railway  it  was  that  had  come  into  my 
charge." 

Here  Mr.  Vreeland's  narrative  stops,  for  the 
rest  of  the  history  is  well  known  to  the  people 
of  New  York,  and  to  experts  in  street  railroad- 
ing throughout  the  country.  The  "  Whitney 
syndicate,"  so  called,  was  then  in  possession  of 
a  few  only  out  of  some  twenty  or  more  street 
railway  properties  in  New  York  City,  the 
Broadway  line,  however,  being  one  of  these, 
and  by  far  the  most  valuable.  With  the  im- 
mense financial  resources  of  Messrs.  Whitney, 
Widener,  Elkins,  and  their  associates,  nearly 
all  the  other  properties  were  added  to  the  orig- 
inal ones  owned  by  the  syndicate,  and  with  the 
magnificent  organizing  and  executive  ability  of 
Mr.  Vreeland,  there  has  been  built  up  in  New 
York  a  street  railway  system  which,  while  in- 
cluding less  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles 


Herbert  H.  Vreeland 

of  track,  is  actually  carrying  more  than  one- 
half  as  many  passengers  each  year  as  are  being 
carried  by  all  the  steam  railroads  of  the  United 
States  together. 

Mr.  Vreeland's  first  work  on  coming  to  New 
York  was,  naturally,  to  familiarize  himself 
with  the  transportation  conditions  in  New 
York  City,  and  to  learn  how  to  handle  the  pe- 
culiarly complex  problems  involved  in  street 
railroading.  He  first  had  to  gain,  also,  the 
confidence  of  his  men,  but  this  is  never  hard 
for  anyone  who  is  sincerely  solicitous  for  their 
welfare,  and  in  such  sympathy  with  their  work 
and  hardships  as  a  man  like  himself  must  have 
been,  with  his  own  past  history  in  mind. 

With  his  hand  firmly  on  the  tiller,  and  with 
his  scheme  of  organization  perfected,  he  was 
soon  able  to  take  up  the  larger  questions  of  ad- 
ministration. To  Mr.  Vreeland  is  due  the 
credit  of  initiating  and  rapidly  extending  a  gen- 
eral free  transfer  system  in  New  York,  by 
which  the  public  is  able  to  ride  from  almost 
any  part  of  the  largest  city  in  the  country  to 
any  other  part,  for  a  single  five-cent  fare, 
whereas,  before  the  consolidation,  two,  three, 
and  sometimes  four  fares  would  have  to  be 
paid  for  the  same  ride. 

353 


How  They  Succeeded 

It  was  upon  Mr.  Vreeland's  recommenda- 
tion, also,  backed  by  that  of  F.  S.  Pearson,  the 
well-known  consulting  engineer  of  the  Whit- 
ney syndicate,  that  the  latter  determined  to 
adopt  the  underground  conduit  electric  system 
in  the  reconstruction  of  the  lines.  At  that  time 
this  decision  involved  the  greatest  financial  and 
technical  courage,  since  there  was  but  one  other 
road  of  this  kind  in  existence,  and  that  a  small 
tramway  in  an  Austrian  city,  while  previous 
American  experience  with  this  system  had  been 
uniformly  unsuccessful. 

Not  only  in  street  railroading  proper,  but 
also  in  steam  railroading,  automobile  work  and 
the  electric  lighting  field,  Mr.  Vreeland  pos- 
sesses the  absolute  confidence  of  his  associates, 
who  rely  implicitly  upon  his  judgment,  intelli- 
gence and  business  acumen.  The  recent  gift, 
already  referred  to,  is  one  only  of  several  which 
he  has  received  from  men  who  feel  that  they 
have  made  millions  through  his  ability.  Al- 
though he  is  not  to-day  a  wealthy  man,  as  men 
are  counted  wealthy  in  New  York  City,  he  is 
certainly  well  along  on  the  road  to  millionaire- 
dom. 

Best  of  all,  however,  and  what  has  probably 
satisfied  him  most  in  his  life,  has  been  the  host 

354 


Herbert  H.  Vreeland 

of  genuine  friendships  which  he  has  made,  and 
the  strong  hold  which  he  has  upon  the  work- 
ingman.  A  strike  of  the  employees  of  the 
Metropolitan  Street  Railway  Company  is  ab- 
solutely impossible  so  long  as  he  remains  at  the 
head  of  the  company's  affairs,  for  the  men 
know  well  that  there  will  be  in  that  position  a 
man  who  is  always  fair,  and  even  generous 
with  them,  bearing  in  mind  ever  his  duty  to 
his  stockholders;  and  they  know,  too,  that  no 
injustice  will  be  committed  by  any  of  the  de- 
partment heads.  Any  one  of  his  four  or  five 
thousand  employees  can  meet  him  personally 
on  a  question  of  grievance,  and  is  sure  of  being 
treated  as  a  reasonable  fellow  man.  Time  and 
again  have  labor  leaders  sought  to  form  an  or- 
ganization of  the  Metropolitan  employees,  and 
as  often  the  men  have  said  in  reply,  "  Not  while 
Vreeland  is  here, — we  know  he  will  treat  us 
fairly." 

In  a  recent  address  Mr.  Vreeland  said: — 
"  No  artificial  condition  can  ever,  in  my 
judgment,  keep  down  a  man  who  has  health, 
capacity  and  honesty.  You  can  temporarily 
interfere  with  him  or  make  the  road  to  the  ob- 
ject of  his  ambition  more  difficult,  but  you  can- 
not stop  him.  That  tyranny  is  forever  dead, 

355 


How  They  Succeeded 

and  since  its  death  there  has  come  a  great  en- 
lightenment to  the  possessors  of  power  and 
wealth.  Instead  of  preventing  a  man  from  ris- 
ing, there  is  not  a  concern  the  wide  world  over 
that  is  not  to-day  eagerly  seeking  for  capable 
people.  The  great  hunger  of  the  time  is  for 
good  men,  strong  men,  men  capable  of  assum- 
ing responsibility;  and  there  is  sharp  competi- 
tion for  those  who  are  available." 


356 


XXII 

How  James  Whitcomb  Riley 
Came  to  be  Master  of  the 
Hoosier  Dialect 

IT  is  doubtful  if  there  is  in  the  literary  world, 
to-day,  a  personage  whose  boyhood  and 
young   manhood    can   approach    in    ro- 
mance and  unusual  circumstances  that  of  the 
author  of  "  The  Old  Swimmin'  Hole." 

All  tradition  was  against  his  accomplishing 
anything  in  the  world.  How,  indeed,  said  the 
good  folks  of  the  little  town  of  Greenfield,  In- 
diana, could  anything  be  expected  of  a  boy  who 
cared  nothing  for  school,  and  deserted  it  at  the 
first  opportunity,  to  take  up  a  wandering  life. 

THROWN    ON    HIS   OWN    RESOURCES 

The  boy's  father  wanted  the  boy  to  follow  in 
his  footsteps,  in  the  legal  profession,  and  he 
held  out  alluring  hopes  of  the  possibility  of 

357 


How  They  Succeeded 

scaling  even  greater  heights  than  any  to  which 
he  had  yet  attained.  Better  still, — from  the 
standpoint  of  the  restless  James, — he  took  the 
youngster  with  him  as  he  made  his  circuit  from 
court  to  court. 

These  excursions,  for  they  were  indeed  such 
to  the  boy,  sowed  deep  in  his  heart  the  seed  of 
a  determination  to  become  a  nomad;  and  it 
was  not  long  until  he  started  out  as  a  strolling 
sign-painter,  determined  upon  the  realization 
of  his  ideals. 

Oftentimes  business  was  worse  than  dull, 
and,  on  one  occasion,  hunger  drove  him  for  re- 
course to  his  wits,  and  lo,  he  blossomed  forth 
as  a  "  blind  sign-painter,"  led  from  place  to 
place  by  a  little  boy,  and  showered  with  sym- 
pathy and  trade  in  such  abundance  that  he 
could  hardly  bear  the  thought  of  the  relinquish- 
ment  of  a  pretense  so  ingenious  and  successful, 
entered  on  at  first  as  a  joke. 

Then  came  another  epoch.  The  young  man 
fell  in  with  a  patent-medicine  man,  with  whom 
he  joined  fortunes,  and  here  the  young  Indian- 
ian,  who  had  been  scribbling  more  or  less 
poetry,  found  a  new  use  for  his  talent ;  for  his 
duties  in  the  partnership  were  to  beguile  the 
people  with  joke  and  song,  while  his  co-worker 

358 


James  Whitcomb  Riley 

plied  the  sales  of  his  cure-all.  There  were  many 
times  when,  but  for  his  fancy,  the  young  poet 
might  have  seen  his  audience  dwindle  rapidly 
away.  It  was  while  thus  engaged,  that  he  had 
the  opportunities  which  enabled  him  to  master 
thoroughly  the  Hoosier  dialect. 

When  the  glamor  of  the  patent-medicine 
career  had  faded  somewhat,  the  nomadic  Riley 
joined  a  band  of  strolling  Thespians,  and,  in 
this  brief  portion  of  his  life,  after  the  wont  of 
players  of  his  class,  played  many  parts. 

At  length,  he  began  to  give  a  little  more  at- 
tention to  his  literary  work;  and,  later,  ob- 
tained a  place  on  an  Indianapolis  paper,  where 
he  published  his  first  poems,  and  they  won  their 
author  almost  instant  success. 

WHY  HE  LONGED  TO  BE  A  BAKER 

When  I  drew  Mr.  Riley  out  to  talk  still  fur- 
ther of  those  interesting  days,  and  the  strange 
experiences  which  came  to  him  therein,  the  con- 
versation finally  turned  on  the  subject  of  his 
youthful  ambition. 

"  I  think  my  earliest  remembered  one,"  he 
said,  "  was  an  insatiate  longing  to  become  a 
baker.  I  don't  know  what  prompted  it,  unless 
it  were  the  visions  of  the  mountains  of  alluring 

359 


How  They  Succeeded 

'  goodies/  which,  as  they  are  ranged  in  the  win- 
dows of  the  pastry  shops,  appear  doubly  tempt- 
ing to  the  youth  whose  mother  not  only  coun- 
sels moderation,  but  enforces  it. 

"  Next,  I  imagined  that  I  would  like  to  be- 
come a  showman  of  some  sort. 

"  Then,  my  shifting  fancy  conjured  up  vis- 
ions of  how  grand  it  would  be  to  work  as  a 
painter,  and  decorate  houses  and  fences  in 
glowing  colors. 

"  Finally,  as  I  grew  a  little  older,  there  re- 
turned my  old  longing  to  become  an  actor. 
When,  however,  my  dreams  were  realized,  and 
I  became  a  member  of  a  traveling  theatrical 
company,  I  found  that  the  life  was  full  of  hard- 
ships, with  very  little  chance  of  rising  in  the 
world. 

"  I  never  had  any  literary  ambition  whatever, 
so  far  as  I  can  remember.  I  wrote,  primarily, 
simply  because  I  desired  to  have  something  to 
read,  and  could  not  find  selections  that  exactly 
suited  me.  Gradually  I  found  a  demand  for 
my  little  efforts  springing  up;  and  so  my 
brother,  who  could  write  legibly  transcribed 
them." 


360 


James  Whitcomb  Riley 

PERSISTENCE 

At  this  point  I  asked  Mr.  Riley  his  idea  of 
the  prime  requisites  for  success  in  the  field  of 
letters. 

"  The  most  essential  factor,"  he  replied  "  is 
persistence, — the  determination  never  to  allow 
your  energy  or  enthusiasm  to  be  dampened  by 
the  discouragement  that  must  inevitably  come. 
I  believe  that  he  is  richer  for  the  battle  with  the 
world,  in  any  vocation,  who  has  great  determi- 
nation and  little  talent,  rather  than  his  seem- 
ingly more  fortunate  brother  with  great  talent, 
perhaps,  but  little  determination.  As  for  the 
field  of  literature,  I  cannot  but  express  my  con- 
viction that  meteoric  flights,  such  as  have  been 
taken,  of  recent  years,  by  some  young  writers 
with  whose  names  almost  everybody  is  familiar, 
cannot  fail  to  be  detrimental,  unless  the  man  to 
whom  success  comes  thus  early  and  suddenly  is 
an  exceptionally  evenly-balanced  and  sensible 
person. 

"  Many  persons  have  spoken  to  me  about 
Kipling's  work,  and  remarked  how  wonderful 
a  thing  is  the  fact  that  such  achievements  could 
have  been  possible  for  a  man  comparatively  so 
young.  I  say,  not  at  all.  What  do  we  find 

361 


How  They  Succeeded 

when  we  investigate  ?  Simply  that  Kipling  be- 
gan working  on  a  newspaper  when  he  was  only 
thirteen  years  of  age,  and  he  has  been  toiling 
ever  since.  So  you  see,  even  that  case  con- 
firms my  theory  that  every  man  must  be  '  tried 
in  the  fire/  as  it  were. 

"  He  may  begin  early  or  late — and  in  some 
cases  the  fight  is  longer  than  in  others — but  of 
one  thing  I  feel  sure,  that  there  is  no  short-cut 
to  permanent,  self-satisfying  success  in  litera- 
ture, or  anything  else." 

TWENTY  YEARS  OF  REJECTED  MANUSCRIPTS 

"  Mr.  Riley,"  I  asked,  "  would  you  mind 
saying  something  about  the  obstacles  over 
which  you  climbed  to  success  ?  " 

"  I  am  afraid  it  would  not  be  a  very  pleas- 
ant story,"  he  replied.  "  A  friend  came  to  me 
once,  completely  heartbroken,  saying  that  his 
manuscripts  were  constantly  returned,  and  that 
he  was  the  most  miserable  wretch  alive.  I 
asked  him  how  long  he  had  been  trying? 
'  Three  years/  he  said.  '  My  dear  man/  I  an- 
swered, laughing,  '  go  on,  keep  on  trying  till 
you  have  spent  as  many  years  at  it  as  I  did/ 
'  As  many  as  you  did ! '  he  exclaimed.  '  Yes, 
as  long  as  I  did/  '  What,  you  struggled  for 

362 


James  Whitcomb  Riley 

years ! '  '  Yes,  sir ;  through  years,  through 
sleepless  nights,  through  almost  hopeless  days. 
For  twenty  years  I  tried  to  get  into  one  maga- 
zine; back  came  my  manuscripts  eternally.  I 
kept  on.  In  the  twentieth  year,  that  magazine 
accepted  one  of  my  articles.' 

"  I  was  not  a  believer  in  the  theory  that  one 
man  does  a  thing  much  easier  than  any  other 
man.  Continuous,  unflagging  effort,  persist- 
ence and  determination  will  win.  Let  not  the 
man  be  discouraged  who  has  these." 

"  What  would  you  advise  one  to  do  with  his 
constantly  rejected  manuscript?  "  I  asked. 

"  Put  it  away  awhile;  then  remodel  it. 
Young  writers  make  the  mistake  I  made." 

"What  mistake?"  I  asked. 

"  Hurrying  a  manuscript  off  before  it  was 
dry  from  my  pen,  as  if  the  world  were  just 
waiting  for  that  article  and  must  have  it.  Now 
it  can  hardly  be  drawn  from  me  with  a  pair  of 
tweezers.  Yes,  lay  it  aside  awhile.  Reread. 
There  is  a  rotten  spot  somewhere.  Perhaps 
it  is  full  of  hackneyed  phrases,  or  lacks  in 
sparkle  and  originality.  Search,  examine,  re- 
write, simplify.  Make  it  lucid.  I  am  glad, 
now,  that  my  manuscripts  did  come  back.  Pres- 
ently I  would  discover  this  defect,  then  that. 

363 


How  They  Succeeded 

Perhaps  three  or  four  sleepless  nights  would 
show  my  failure  to  be  in  an  unsymmetrical  ar- 
rangement of  the  verses. 

"See  these  books?"  he  said,  rapping  upon 
the  book  case  with  the  back  of  his  hand. 
"Classics!  but  of  what  do  they  tell?  Of  the 
things  of  their  own  day.  Let  us  write  the 
things  of  our  day.  Literary  fields  exhausted! 
Nonsense.  If  we  write  well  enough,  ours  will 
be  the  classics  of  to-morrow.  Our  young 
Americans  have,  right  at  hand,  the  richest  ma- 
terial any  country  ever  offered.  Let  them  be 
brave  and  work  in  earnest." 

A    COLLEGE   EDUCATION 

Answering  other  questions,  the  poet  said : — 
"  A  college  education  for  the  aspirant  for  liter- 
ary success  is,  of  course,  an  advantage,  pro- 
vided he  does  not  let  education  foster  a  false 
culture  that  will  lead  him  away  from  the  ideals 
he  ought  to  cling  to. 

"  There  is  another  thing  that  the  young  man 
in  any  artistic  pursuit  must  have  a  care  for; 
and  that  is,  to  be  practical.  This  is  a  practical 
world,  and  it  is  always  ready  to  take  advantage 
of  this  sort  of  people :  so  that  one  must  try  to 
cultivate  a  practical  business  sense  as  well  as  an 

364 


James  Whitcomb  Riley 

artistic  sense.  We  have  only  a  few  men  like 
Rudyard  Kipling  and  F.  Hopkinson  Smith,  who 
seem  to  combine  these  diverse  elements  of  char- 
acter in  just  the  right  proportions;  but  I  be- 
lieve that  it  is  unfortunate  for  the  happiness 
and  peace  of  mind  of  our  authors,  and  artists, 
and  musicians,  that  we  have  not  more  of  them." 

RILEY'S  POPULARITY 

Riley's  poetry  is  popular  because  it  goes  right 
to  the  feelings  of  the  people.  He  could  not 
have  written  as  he  does,  but  for  the  schooling 
of  that  wandering  life,  which  gave  him  an  in- 
sight into  the  struggle  for  existence  among  the 
great  unnumbered  multitude  of  his  fellow  men. 
He  learned  in  his  travels  and  journeys,  in  his 
hard  experience  as  a  strolling  sign-painter  and 
patent-medicine  peddler  the  freemasonry  of 
poverty.  His  poems  are  natural ;  they  are  those 
of  a  man  who  feels  as  he  writes.  As  Thoreau 
painted  nature  in  the  woods,  and  streams,  and 
lakes,  so  Riley  depicts  the  incidents  of  every- 
day life,  and  brightens  each  familiar  lineament 
with  that  touch  that  makes  all  the  world  akin. 


\ 


SUCCESS  BOOKS 

By  DR.  ORISON  SWETT  MARDEN 
STEPPING   STONES 

izrno.     Red  Cloth.     Decorative  Cover.     Illustrated.     Price,  $1.25 

Dr.  Marden's  new  volume  of  essays, "  Stepping  Stones,"  has  the  attractive 
qualities  made  familiar  to  a  large  audience  of  readers  by  his  earlier  books. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  entirely  new  in  contents  and  most  helpful  and  enter- 
taining in  character.  It  contains  talks  to  young  people  of  both  sexes  full  of 
practical  value,  happy  sketches  of  great  characters,  salient  suggestions  on 
deportment  and  conduct,  and  shrewd  advice  of  all  kinds  touching  everyday 
living.  The  author's  wide  knowledge  of  history  and  literature  is  used  to 
give  the  essays  atmosphere  and  quality,  and  no  success  book  of  the  series  is 
more  engaging  and  wholesome  than  "  Stepping  Stones." 

HOW   THEY   SUCCEEDED 

Life  Stories  of  Successful  Men  told  by  Themselves 
i2mo.     Red  Cloth.    Decorative  Cover.     Illustrated.    Price,  $1.50 

The  author  in  this  book  has  set  down  the  story  of  successful  men  and 
women  told  by  themselves,  either  in  a  series  of  interviews  or  by  semi- 
autobiographical  sketches.  They  make  a  most  entertaining  and  inspiring 
series  of  life  stories,  full  of  incentive  to  ambitious  youth. 

The  Boston  Transcript  says  :  "  To  the  young  man  who  is  determined  to 
succeed  in  life,  no  matter  in  what  direction  his  aim  may  lie,  this  volume  will 
be  a  direct  source  of  inspiration.  It  shows  that  the  people  'who  have  got 
there '  have  invariably  done  so  through  pluck,  perseverance,  and  principle, 
and  not  through  '  pulr  or  social  position.  It  emphasizes  the  fact  that  suc- 
cess depends  wholly  and  entirely  upon  the  person  himself." 

WINNING   OUT 

A  Book  about  Success 
i2mo.    Red  Cloth.    Decorative  Cover.    Gilt  Top.    Illustrated.    Price,  $1.00 

Dr.  Marden  has  made  for  himself  a  wide  reputation  by  his  earlier  volumes, 
"  Architects  of  Fate  "  and  "  Pushing  to  the  Front."  But  "  Winning  Out," 
while  constructed  along  somewhat  the  same  lines,  is  his  first  book  designed 
especially  for  young  readers.  Its  theme  is  "  Character  Building  by  Habit 
Forming." 

The  Louisville  Courier  Journal  says  :  "  Pleasant  teaching  Dr.  Mar- 
den's  anecdotes  make.  They  are  of  men  and  things  that  have  actually  been 
and  happened.  The  moral  is  often  an  epigram,  always  apropos.  Through 
the  pages  of  the  small  volume  pass  a  procession  of  figures  that  have  aspired, 
struggled,  and  achieved.  Such  work  is  good  for  the  world,  good  for  the 
youth  in  it,  and  for  more  experienced  and  serious  middle  age." 

Lothrop  Publishing  Company  -  -  Boston 


Defending  The    Bank 

By  EDWARD  S.  VAN  ZILE 

Author  of  "  With  Sword  and  Crucifix,"  etc.  Four 
illustrations  by  I.  B.  Hazelton.  i2mo.  Pictorial 
cover  in  color.  Price,  $1.25. 

"  Defending  the  Bank,"  by  Edward  S.  Van  Zile,  is  a 
most  amusing  and  interesting  detective  story  for  boys 
and  girls,  in  which  a  couple  of  bright  boys  and  girls  ap- 
point themselves  amateur  detectives  and  are  able  to  run 
down  a  couple  of  bank  robbers  who  are  planning  to  rob 
the  bank  of  which  the  lather  of  one  of  the  boys  is  presi- 
dent. This  is  at  once  an  exciting  and  wholesome  tale, 
of  which  the  scene  is  laid  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  the  former 
home  of  the  author.  It  will  be  widely  welcomed. 

The    Mutineers 

By  EUSTACE  L.  WILLIAMS 

Author  of  'The  Substitute  Quarterback."  i2mo. 
Four  illustrations  by  I.  B.  Hazelton.  Pictorial 
cover  in  color.  Price,  $1.25. 

"  The  Mutineers "  is  a  rattling  boys'  story  by  Mr. 
Eustace  L.  Williams  of  the  Louisville  Courier-Journal. 
It  gives  a  picture  of  life  in  a  large  boarding-school,  where 
a  certain  set  of  boys  control  the  athletics,  and  shows 
how  their  unjust  power  was  broken  by  the  hero  of  the 
tale,  who  forms  a  rival  baseball  nine  and  manages  to  de- 
feat his  opponents,  thus  bringing  a  better  state  of  things 
in  the  school  socially  and  as  to  sports.  The  story  is  full 
of  lively  action,  and  deals  with  baseball  and  general 
athletic  interests  in  a  large  school  in  a  manner  which 
shows  that  the  author  is  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
and  sympathetic  to  his  subject. 

LOTHROP    PUBLISHING    COMPANY,    BOSTON 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 
University  of  California  Library 

or  to  the 

NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
Bldg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

•  2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 
(510)642-6753 

•  1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing 
books  to  NRLF 

•  Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4 
days  prior  to  due  date. 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


12,000(11/95) 

—  .  ___ _— 


M5533SO 


